Happy Diary of a Wimpy Kid Release Day!

It was a good day for the Wimpy Kid.

The latest installment in the perennially popular series following middle-schooler Greg Heffley was released today. This is the eighth book in the series, and we are gearing up for the flood of children we serve asking us if we have any copies of the bright green book.

That’s how many students know these books – by the colors. “Do you have the green ‘Diary of a Wimpy Kid?’” they will ask.

In order to be able to answer “yes,” we need help!

Along with sports books, superheroes, and “Captain Underpants,” books from this series are among the most requested books we distribute every year. But because this book is a contemporary favorite among schoolchildren, it’s also one of the books that we seldom receive from second-hand donations.

Through national nonprofit First Book, we have the opportunity to buy special-edition paperbacks of this new release for just $3.05. That’s a fantastic deal, but it still breaks our standard per-book spending limit of $2.

So, each year at this time, we embark on special fund-raising, asking our supporters to make a donation to the Diary of a Wimpy Kid Fund. We're setting a goal: to raise the money to buy 250 copies of this book before the end of the month.

A $3.05 donation will buy one book. A donation of $30.50 will allow us to buy 10 copies of the book to distribute to 10 children in grades four and five. If we can secure enough donated copies and raise enough funds, we will also distribute them to third-graders, who are clamoring to read this book and keep up with their older peers!

And since the holidays are approaching, we encourage you to make a donation to the Wimpy Kid Fund in honor of the loved one. If you donate enough to buy 10 books or more ($30.50 or more), we'll send you a certificate to present to that person. Just make a note when you donate via check or via PayPal that the donation is a gift, and the name of the person in whose honor you are donating. We will email you a certificate.

So, it’s a good day for the Wimpy Kid. Help ensure that May distributions will be a good day for the children we serve who get so excited when we tell them there are enough copies of this book for each of them. Donate simply and securely at the Books for Keeps website.

A final note: we are always looking for donated books from this series! If you have a child or know of a child who would be willing to part with any of their gently-used “Diary of a Wimpy Kid” books, please consider donating them.