Friday, Nov. 06, 2009

Eighth-grader gets famed author to visit his metro-east grade school

Cathedral Grade School eighth-grader Thomas Fields may have what it takes to be a writer and a great cartoonist, according to a well-known writer and great cartoonist.

"Cartooning is a craft and not many people can do it," said Jeff Kinney, author of the "Diary of a Wimpy Kid" children's book series. "So I have a lot of admiration for what Thomas did."

Thomas, of Belleville, won the Diary of a Wimpy Kid Do-It-Yourself Comic Contest, an international competition that required kids to create their own comics. Noting it's "professional grade," Kinney said Thomas' entry was the best of the more than 4,000 submitted from around the world.

Thomas said his win just shows, "If you really stick to it and work hard you can achieve anything -- even if it's unexpected."

The Wimpy Kid series is a collection of four books in which the main character, Jeff Huffley, comically journals about his experiences as a "wimpy" seventh-grader.

More than 100 students from Cathedral, St. Mary-St. Augustine Catholic Grade School and St. Teresa School gathered in Cathedral's gymnasium to hear Kinney speak about how his career as a cartoonist and how the Wimpy Kid series came to be.

Thomas said he has been reading Kinney's books since he was in the first grade, the same year he began drawing comics. He said he likes the Wimpy Kid series because he "can really relate to them."

Thomas wanted to meet Kinney after reading his first Wimpy Kid book.

"The first thing I said was 'I'm going to meet this guy one day. This guy is hilarious,'" he said.

Cathedral Principal Kay Bennett said Kinney's visit was not just to highlight Thomas' accomplishment but to let other students see that such accomplishments are possible.

"This is inspirational when they can see that a person their age can have such an impact on a national figure," Bennett said.

Kinney said he hoped his message inspired the students to explore their creative sides and to have fun in the process.

"Anything we can do to teach our kids to be creators instead of consumers is a good thing," he said.

As for Thomas, he's thinking of using his creativity for a career.

"I'm thinking of maybe doing a real comic strip, or maybe even going into movies," he said. "That would be really cool."