PARIS • The Wimpy Kid has finally done good - and his creator Jeff Kinney (photo) has even got a medal from France to prove it.

The American creator of the best-selling Diary Of A Wimpy Kid books was made an officer of France's Order of Arts and Letters on Monday, an honour also conferred on Nobel laureates T. S. Eliot and Seamus Heaney.

Kinney, 48, said he never expected his stories to become such a cult children's hit, selling more than 200 million copies worldwide and spawning four movies.

In fact, the cartoonist said the misadventures of 12-year-old weakling Greg Heffley was initially aimed at adults nostalgic for their middle-school years.

But the geeky loser was quickly adopted as a hilarious anti-hero by a generation of children and teenagers.

"I always wanted to be a newspaper cartoonist," Kinney said. "But I didn't have the artistic talent."

His eureka moment came "one day when I realised if I drew at my talent level, which was at the level for an 11-or 12-year-old boy", it might work.

"I fully expected Diary Of A Wimpy Kid would be rejected. So, I think it's crazy it's in 64 languages now and I'm thrilled it's translated into French," he said.

"I think this is incredible. I grew up in Maryland and I studied French when I was in seventh grade and I never could have imagined coming here and being honoured in this way," Kinney added.

The father of two is convinced that children are much more rounded than they were when he was growing up. "I think that kids identify with being a nerd or a wimp in a way they didn't when I was growing up.

"I think kids are much more comfortable in their own skin these days and that's a good thing," he added.

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE