Dork Diaries: Tales from a Not-So-Fabulous Life Author: | Language: English | ISBN:
B0044X2TPI | Format: PDF
Dork Diaries: Tales from a Not-So-Fabulous Life Description
As a part of her father's bug-extermination contract, 14-year-old Nikki J. Maxwell has been awarded a scholarship to a prestigious private middle school. So...new school. New mean girl. New crush. New diary, so Nikki can spill about all of it....
- Audible Audio Edition
- Listening Length: 3 hours and 36 minutes
- Program Type: Audiobook
- Version: Unabridged
- Publisher: Simon & Schuster Audio
- Audible.com Release Date: September 28, 2010
- Language: English
- ASIN: B0044X2TPI
I can't believe how much I enjoyed the new middle grade book DORK DIARIES: TALES FROM A NOT-SO-FABULOUS LIFE by Rachel Renee Russell. I guess you could say I was pleasantly surprised by my reaction to this book -- basically, I didn't want to put it down. It was just so much fun to read, and I absolutely couldn't wait to hear what my nine year old daughter thought.
I just adored this book. I loved the character of Nikki and felt that almost all young girls are going to be able to relate to her. She has the "normal" middle school insecurities such as the desire to be popular, wondering who she can trust as a friend, and fear of being laughed at. It's been a long time since I was in eighth grade, but I could definitely relate to being the new girl in school -- it's very hard at that age!
While there were certainly times that I felt Nikki's pain, I'd say for the most part this book was a hoot! Nikki was a terrific character who had a great perspective on her life. I found myself laughing hysterically at her attempts to get an iPhone, and I also thought the scenes with her little sister to be fantastic. (Like Nikki, I had a sister who was a good bit younger.) And her parents....well, as a parent I probably shouldn't have thought they were so funny, but the way Nikki described their actions was hilarious. I can't even begin to tell you how many times I laughed out loud while reading this story.
Since DORK DIARIES is supposed to read like Nikki's actual diary, the book had a really cool format with interesting fonts and amazing illustrations. I loved the look of this book and thought that Nikki's drawings really enhanced the story and allowed the reader to better understand Nikki. Ms. Russell is not only a fantastic writer but also a terrific artist!
Dork Diaries was a complete impulse buy. After leafing through a few pages and deciding to take it home (mostly because I thought the drawings were cute), I zipped through it in an afternoon.
The story recounts, in gory detail, how fourteen year old Nikki Maxwell is adjusting to life in her new school. She comes from an average middle class family, but the school is an upper class haven; she only attended because her father received the pest extermination contract and cajoled a scholarship for his daughter. Of course, if anyone--especially MacKenzie, the uber-rich mean girl and leader of the CCP (Cute, Cool & Popular crowd)--found out that she was the daughter of the man driving around town with a GINORMOUS cockroach on his van, her life would be over before it even began.
Nikki's mother, in an attempt to open her daughter's lines of communication, gets her a diary. Of course, Nikki was expecting a new iPhone, so she had a minor meltdown. But as she warms up to the idea of writing in a diary, we come to see who Nikki is as a person, and ultimately, what matters most to her. She's a multi-dimensional (and far from perfect) character, which made her charming.
She was artistic, creative, sometimes self-centered, and sometimes self-conscious. I found myself relating because people don't always see the forest for the trees, and we become paranoid that our friends aren't being true friends, that the world truly will end if we don't fit in with the popular people, and lose sight of what's important. And we watch as she matures through her various experiences and learns valuable lessons: the grass isn't always greener on the other side, be true to yourself, don't judge a book by its cover, and running away from problems won't solve them.
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