Jeff Kinney Audiobooks

Jeff Kinney, born in 1971, is an American author and illustrator, and the creator of one of the most recognisable children’s series on the planet: Diary of a Wimpy Kid, which he both writes and illustrates. He is also the man behind Poptropica, a website built for children – evidence, if any were needed, that he has spent his career thinking about how young audiences actually engage with stories.

The double credit matters. Kinney is not an author whose books were handed to an illustrator, nor an illustrator decorating someone else’s text: words and drawings come from one sensibility, which is a large part of why the series connects so directly with its readers.

A fair question hangs over an illustrated series in audio: does it survive without the pictures? In this case, yes – the diary format is first-person comedy at heart, and good narration turns it into something close to stand-up for the school-age crowd. Our catalogue carries several instalments, from the original Diary of a Wimpy Kid through The Long Haul to Fight or Flight.

For UK families these are dependable car-journey books: short, funny and entirely painless for the adults in the front seats. Reluctant readers in particular tend to find that Wimpy Kid in audio feels less like reading homework and more like being told a very good joke at considerable length.