BRACE YOURSELF . . . AMULET BOOKS REVEALS DOG DAYS AS THE TITLE OF BOOK 4 IN THE BESTSELLING DIARY OF A WIMPY KID SERIES

SPECIAL ONLINE REVEAL AVAILABLE ONLY ON WWW.WIMPYKID.COM
COAST-TO-COAST ICE CREAM TRUCK SUMMER READING TOUR BEGINS AUGUST 3
NATIONAL LAY-DOWN OF ABOUT 3 MILLION COPIES IS MONDAY, OCTOBER 12

New York, NY, July 23, 2009—Amulet Books, an imprint of Abrams, reveals today the title, color, and cover of the fourth book in Jeff Kinney’s bestselling series with press outreach and a special online reveal available only on www.wimpykid.com. DIARY OF A WIMPY KID: DOG DAYS has a yellow cover, which follows the red, blue, and green of the first three bestselling books. It releases in a one-day national lay-down on Monday, October 12, and will have a first printing of 3 million copies. Following the astounding sales and publicity momentum of Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Last Straw,one of the biggest book releases of 2009, Dog Days is poised to bring the Wimpy Kid series to new sales and media heights.

“I didn’t want my fans to have to wait a year for a new book,” said Jeff Kinney. “I’m very excited about Dog Days, because it takes Greg out of the school setting for the first time. It’s been a lot of fun to write about the Heffley summer vacation.”

To promote literacy and libraries alongside the release of the new book, a custom-designed and branded Diary of a Wimpy Kid ice cream truck will tour to over 40 libraries over a 30-day period to promote the “Dog Days of Summer Reading.” Starting in Sacramento, CA, on August 3 and concluding in Boston, MA, on August 29, the truck will deliver free ice cream to fans as it traverses the country. The tour will include a social media tie-in chronicling fan enthusiasm in each city, and offer Q&A broadcasts with Jeff Kinney at random stops along the route. The complete schedule is available through a link on www.wimpykid.com.

“Everyone at Abrams and Amulet has put their heart and soul into making sure that this book is published this fall,” said Michael Jacobs, President and CEO of Abrams. “Jeff Kinney’s millions of fans—and their parents, caregivers, librarians, teachers, and friends—will be elated to know the new book is just under three months away. The dog days of summer will be made much more bearable, and fun, as our summer reading ice cream truck tour rolls across America.”
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Kinney’s work has been widely credited for its ability to turn reluctant readers on to books. He has won awards voted on by students in schools around the globe. Since publication of the first Diary of a Wimpy Kid book in April 2007, over 20 million books are in print in the United States, and the books have been sold in more than 30 countries around the world.

The series is a fixture on the USA Today, Wall Street Journal, Publishers Weekly,and IndieBound bestseller lists, and has remained consistently in the top spots on the New York Times lists since publication. The books in the Wimpy Kid series dominated the tops of both the Bookscan juvenile fiction and nonfiction lists for the first quarter of 2009. A movie based on the books is currently in the works with Fox 2000 studios and due out in April 2010.

About Amulet Books:Created in 2004 to specialize in books for middle grade and young adult readers alongside Abrams Books for Young Readers, which publishes books for readers up to age twelve, Amulet Books publishes bestselling and award-winning fiction and nonfiction. Amulet Books is an imprint of Abrams.

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For more information, to set up an interview, or for images, please contact:

Jason M. Wells
Publicity and Marketing Director
Abrams Books for Young Readers/Amulet Books
115 West 18th Street
New York, NY 10011
office: 212-229-8826
mobile: 646-456-5446
fax: 212-366-0809
jwells@abramsbooks.com

Founded by Harry N. Abrams in 1949, ABRAMS was the first company in the United States to specialize in the creation and distribution of art and illustrated books. Now a subsidiary of La Martinière Groupe, the company publishes visually stunning illustrated books in the areas of art, photography, cooking, interior and garden design, craft, architecture, entertainment, fashion, sports, pop culture, as well as children’s books and general interest titles. The company’s imprints include Abrams, Abrams ComicArts, Abrams Image, Abrams Books for Young Readers, Amulet Books, Stewart, Tabori & Chang, and STC Craft/Melanie Falick Books. Abrams also distributes books for The Vendome Press, Victoria & Albert Museum, Tate, Royal Academy of Arts, Booth-Clibborn Editions, Five Continents and others.
www.abramsbooks.com