[LM_NET] Review: YA Chick Lit: Dork Diaries: Tales from a Not-So-Fabulous Life

[Pamela Thompson <pthomp@SISD.NET>]

Dork Diaries: Tales From a Not-So-Fabulous Life


by Rachel Renee Russell


Adaddin, 2009.


282 pages
Imagine Diary of a Wimpy Kid but from a girl's point of view. Nikki J. Maxwell 
desperately wants to fit in with the CCP (cute, cool and popular) group at her new 
school. She finds herself a total outsider and learns to hate MacKenzie Hollister, 
the most popular girl in the 8th grade. MacKenzie is everything that Nikkis is not: 
pretty, confident, rich, and ruthless.

Nikki finds that in order to be popular, you MUST have a very cool cell phone. Poor 
Nikki is suffering from a terrible teen-age disease: nocellphoneaphobia--the 
irrational fear of NOT having a cell phone.

Nikki is a wonderful character. Full of middle school knowledge, like how to make 
faux puke so your mother will let you stay home sick from school and how to fashion 
a hearing aid into one of those "cute cell phone thingies," Nikki is a fun 
protagonist. Blessed with a real talent in art, she soon becomes popular because 
she can draw the most fabulous "tattoos." Pretty soon, all the football players, 
cheerleaders, HOT guys, and popular girls become her "friends."


Nikki is at her most fabulous when making observations about life. "After reading 
Twilight She had learned that forbidden love, obsession, and sacrifice could be 
very messy things. Just like snot." (p. 186)
With illustrations by Lisa Vega.
Recommended for YA collections grades 7-up.


Pamela Thompson, MLIS
Library Media Specialist
Col. John O. Ensor Middle School
13600 Ryderwood
El Paso, TX
915-937-6018
pthomp@sisd.net<mailto:pthomp@sisd.net>

visit my YA novel blog at http://booksbypamelathompson.blogspot.com/


"Outside of a dog, a book is man's best friend. Inside of a dog is too dark to 
read." --Groucho Marx

"In the nonstop tsunami of global information, librarians provide us with floaties 
and teach us how to swim." -- Linton Weeks, Washington Post

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