Who Is Jeff Kinney? (Who Was?)

-Fun And Eductional -Great Childrens Book -Ages 6-12 About the Author Patrick Kinney is a freelance writer living in Northern Virginia. He has written two books for children and provides creative content for Poptropica, a kids website. Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved. Who Is Jeff Kinney?   Patricia and Brian Kinney’s home in Virginia, there is a framed newspaper article hanging on the wall. The headline reads: “Igdoof Takes On the Real World.” There is a photo of their son Jeff, twenty-two years old, grinning next to a drawing of a bug-eyed cartoon character. That character was Igdoof. In college, Jeff wrote and illustrated a popular comic strip about him. The article predicted that Jeff would have no trouble becoming a professional cartoonist. That was his dream.   But after several years of disappointment, Jeff wasn’t so sure. When he came home to visit his parents, he’d look at the article and frown. He wondered if his dream would ever come true.   In college, Jeff had been a celebrity. Fans of Igdoof asked Jeff for his autograph. They wore T-shirts with characters from his comic strip on them. Besides Igdoof, there was a green bean named Pooshfa. Another was Jerome, a man with incredibly red lips.   But to become a professional cartoonist, Jeff needed a syndicate. That’s a company that sells comic strips to newspapers all over the United States. The trouble was, no syndicate like