jeff kinney is trying to figure it out. stick figures and humor that make up kinney's series diary of a wimmy kid have sold more than 150 million copies around the world and led to feature films. diary of a wimpy kid old school is out october 3rd. his career. >> it started as a failure. i wanted to be a newspaper cartoonist. i worked at it for years and realized i didn't have the chops and skills to make it. i thought how can i get my cartooninize to some sort of format that people will read? i decided on books. i came up with this character, greg, and spent eight years on editor. understand the appeal, but what's crazy to me is it's been translated into 45 languages. it's all over the globe. this is a universal issue. how did you tap into that? >> i have no idea. i ask myself that all the time. sometimes i sit across from a kid in madrid, spain, or maybe brazil. we don't share a language or a culture, but we share these stories. that's what we have in common. really, it's that we have childhood in common. it's a universal

great to meet you, jeff kinney. >> thank you. >> what do you think it is about your stories and drawingsn relate to. very imperfect. full of flaws, just like me. i think kids can relate. >> is greg sort of your child self? >> i think he is. the sum of my worst parts. >> he's very lovable. he makes a lot of mistakes. doesn't make great choices. we adore him. why, is it so hard for greg to make friends? >> you know, i think he doesn't really deserve to have friends. he makes bad choices. every book has greg with a frown on his face. he's a victim of his own choices. >> in this new book, old school, can you imagine having to go with to electronics, no video games, no iphones. oh, look at you. panic. that's what the story is about. tell us about it. >> well, that's what happens. greg's town decided to bo electronics-free. for a modern kid like greg, it is ziflt. >> and trouble ensus. what made you decide to write that story? >> i wanted to go back to basics. it's the tenth book in the series. i thaulought it would be good t return to the beginning. i made it black. cartoons use black as the