book
beat
The weak shall
inherit the mirth
Author’s
Wimpy Kid
turns into
heavy hitter
IN 2007 JEFF KINNEY’S Diary of a Wimpy
Kid became a surprise bestseller. The book
follows the life of Greg Heffley, an undersized
middle schooler, his best friend, Rowley, and
his older brother, Rodrick. The second title
in a series of five, Diary of a Wimpy Kid:
Rodrick Rules, came out
in February 2008 and was
equally popular. The third
title, The Last Straw, will
be published in January
WILL AND GRANT KINNEY
2009. Part of the books’
appeal lies in the funny
and honest text along
with the simple stick-figure drawings that
accompany the diary entries.
In his latest book, Diary of a Wimpy Kid:
Do-It-Yourself Book, Kinney takes a break
from storytelling and encourages his readers
to keep their own journal by giving them a
place to list their favorite things and even
come up with some comics of their own.
The new book includes 16 original full-color comics drawn by characters Greg and
Rowley—they are Kinney’s first color creations. In a Connection exclusive, Kinney shares
(left) one of Greg’s comics about Gareth, a
string bean with real-kid problems.
—Stephanie E. Ponder
The Costco Connection
Diary of a Wimpy Kid, Diary of a Wimpy Kid:
Rodrick Rules and Diary of a Wimpy Kid:
Do-It-Yourself Book are available in most
Costco locations and at costco.com.
The Gooseberry
Patch is cooking
Books and
more keep
customers
happy
By Hope Katz Gibbs
THINGS ARE cooking at Gooseberry Patch,
a multimillion-dollar company with a country flair that publishes catalogs, comfort-food-friendly cookbooks, calendars and organizers.
Last year, the company published its
100th cookbook and shipped out more than
350,000 packages from its catalog of more
than 500 items less than $20—which includes
a selection of wall and pocket-size calendars,
night lights, Mason jars, bowls, kitchen accessories, food items and kits, Christmas ornaments and soap pumps.
GOOSEBERRY PATCH
Jo Ann Martin (left) and
Vickie Hutchins
The company’s 100 employees are like
family, say founders Vickie Hutchins and
Jo Ann Martin—two entrepreneurs who
didn’t expect to build an empire back in 1984.
They were both stay-at-home moms looking
for something to do after the kids went off
to school. One morning the neighbors were
chatting over their shared backyard fence in
picturesque Delaware, Ohio, and decided to
start a catalog company.
Their concept was simple: They wanted
