Tales from a Not-So-Fabulous Life (Dork Diaries Series #1)

by Rachel Renée Russell Narrated by Lana Quintal

Overview

Notes From Your Bookseller

The Dork Diaries is a romp through Nikki Maxwell's innermost, and often hilarious thoughts as she navigates crushes, best friend drama, and the like. Written like an actual diary, it's the perfect read for the junior high student in your life.

It's Diary of a Wimpy Kid for girls in this hilarious novel!Dork Diaries follows eighth grader Nikki Maxwell as she chronicles her move to a snooty new school; her epic battle with her mom for an iPhone; her enthusiasm for drawing and art; and a love/hate fascination with the new school's queen bee, a girl named Mackenzie, who becomes Nikki's rival in a schoolwide art competition. Nikki writes about friendships, crushes, popularity, and family with a unique and fresh voice that still conveys a universal authenticity. Nikki's sketches throughout her diary add humor and spunk to the book, a surefire hit with tween girl listeners.

Editorial Reviews

School Library Journal

Gr 5-8–Fourteen-year-old Nikki J. Maxwell has been awarded a scholarship to a prestigious private middle school as a part of her father’s bug extermination contract. Her angst as she deals with the resident mean girl, her embarrassing parents, her crush on the hot boy, and making new friends are all recorded alongside numerous sketches of her life. Although occasionally amusing, Nikki is not a very likable character. She is shallow and self-centered and fails to show any growth in the book, even as she one-ups popular and cruel MacKenzie in the end. In fact, Nikki, who steals her neighbor’s hearing aid and plays pranks on her little sister, is somewhat of a mean girl herself. All the other characters are underdeveloped, including Nikki’s family and her new BFFs, Chloe and Zoey. Black-and-white drawings, which are often witty, appear throughout the text, which is printed on lined pages as though from a diary. Fans of Jeff Kinney’s Diary of a Wimpy Kid (Abrams) may enjoy this book, but it’s an additional purchase.–Terry Ann Lawler, Phoenix Public Library, AZ

Kirkus Reviews

When her father barters enrollment in a prestigious private school in exchange for his bug-extermination services, Nikki suddenly finds her life in turmoil. At Westchester Country Day, Nikki encounters uber-snobbish MacKenzie, the archetypal mean girl and her pack of "CCP"-Nikki's acronym for the cute, cool and popular-friends. Nikki chronicles all of her new-girl angst and trepidations as well as her fledgling crush in her diary. Russell's narrative deftly captures the winsome vulnerability of a girl perched on the cusp of teenhood. The comical sketches, executed a la Diary of a Wimpy Kid, add an element of self-deprecating humor to the tale. An abundance of up-to-the-minute pop-cultural references threatens to date this novel quickly. Nikki's ultimate realization that she needs to be true to herself comes across as genuine rather than contrived, however, so despite its modern trappings, Nikki's journey of self-discovery will appeal to preadolescent readers struggling to find their places in the world. (Fiction. 9-13)

Product Details

BN ID:	2940171177997
Publisher:	Simon & Schuster
Publication date:	09/28/2010
Series:	Dork Diaries Series
Edition description:	Unabridged
Sales rank:	810,381
Age Range:	8 - 11 Years

Read an Excerpt

FRIDAY, AT HOME, 6:05 A.M.

OMG!!

I just had the most HORRIFIC nightmare!

The worst in my entire life!

I’m soooo FREAKED OUT I can barely write this.

I’m having cold sweats, my heart is pounding, and my brain is … numb with such intense … anguish it feels like it’s about to, um … EXPLODE!

WHY?!

I DREAMED I LOST MY DIARY AT SCHOOL ?!!!!!!

YES!! At SCHOOL!! Like, how CRAZY is THAT?!

The weird thing is that it seems like it actually happened. Because as soon as I woke up, all these detailed memories came flooding into my head, making me feel even more confused.

I can’t imagine NOT writing in my diary! It’s like I’m addicted or something.

In my dream I was so desperate that I found Brianna’s old doodle book at the bottom of her toy box and started writing in that instead.

But mostly I was FRANTIC that someone would find my diary and read all the SUPERpersonal, SUPERembarrassing, SUPERsecret stuff about

AAAHHH!!

That was me screaming.

WHY?

Because if I’m writing in BRIANNA’S DOODLE BOOK, that can mean only one thing….

I LOST MY DIARY

AT SCHOOL

YESTERDAY ?!!

AAAHHH!!!

© 2011 Rachel RenÉe Russell

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