Manhattan’s Symphony Space was packed with hundreds of awestruck 3rd-, 4th- and 5th-graders who love, laugh and identify with Greg, the hilarious middle school misfit in the wildly successful “Diary of a Wimpy Kid” series. Greg’s creator, Jeff Kinney, took to the stage on April 27 to talk to, sketch, entertain and inspire the children, many of whom come from low-income neighborhoods throughout the city. Martha Murray, a special education teacher at Brooklyn’s PS 109, liked that Kinney let the kids know that feeling like an outsider isn’t easy and that most everyone wrestles with a sense of belonging. Murray reveled in the reaction of one of her students, a 5th-grader who tries to calm her temper and combat the tumult in her young life by creating graphic novels. “When she gets frustrated or can’t deal with school, she is allowed to take out her notebook and draw — otherwise no teaching will occur,” says Murray. “She loves ‘Wimpy Kid’ books, and then being in the same room with the author and listening to him made her feel understood.” Through a live webcast, hundreds of “Wimpy Kid” book fans from across the globe got to ask questions and look on as Kinney unveiled the cover of his soon-to-be-released 10th book, “Old School.” For the 1,200 New York City children, the fun followed six stressful days of standardized test taking. “The event could not have come at a better time,” said Karen Alford, the UFT vice president for elementary schools. “Leaving the school and meeting Jeff Kinney was the highlight for students and teachers.” Kinney turned out to be much more than a super-star author. He’s a great guy, too. Train delays, bus breakdowns and traffic snarls resulted in many children arriving after the event was over. “I asked his people if he could maybe just say hello to the children because they would be crushed that they had missed the event,” said Ina Babb-Henry, a UFT educational liaison assigned to the UFT’s Elementary Schools Division. “Well, he didn’t just greet the children, he did the entire presentation again. He was amazing and, of course, the children were thrilled.”