Read Dork Diaries 2 – Tales from a Not-So-Popular Party Girl free for 7 days. £7.99/month after - less than a paperback.
Rachel Renee Russell's Dork Diaries Tales from a Not-So-Popular Party Girl is a giggly diary story for 10 year olds about a girl who can't get through one conversation with her crush without saying something ridiculous.
This is the second Dork Diaries book. Nikki Maxwell is still at Westchester Country Day, and still stuck with the locker next to MacKenzie Hollister (a KILLER SHARK in sparkly nail polish, according to Nikki).
The Halloween dance is three weeks away. Brandon, the boy Nikki likes, has asked her to be his biology lab partner. Is he about to ask her to the dance too? She spends one lesson carefully drawing the tiny things she can see under the microscope. It's lint.
After that, every time Brandon starts to ask her something, MacKenzie barges in. Meanwhile Chloe and Zoey, Nikki's best friends, have a wild plan to tell everyone the boys in the band are their dates. And Nikki has agreed to paint faces at a Halloween party for Brianna's ballet class.
Then MacKenzie invites her to a very fancy birthday party. Nikki goes, hoping to finally talk to Brandon. It does not go well. There's a chocolate fountain involved, and her brand-new dress doesn't survive it.
Anyone who's read these books will know it's like reading a friend's actual diary. Nikki writes in capitals when she's FREAKING OUT, which is often. She says brave things to MacKenzie and then admits she only said them inside her head. One minute she's in fits over her dad screaming at her mum's oatmeal face mask. The next she's crying in the back of the car, wondering why she's hurting someone she really cares about.
It's very much American middle school, with a Halloween dance, a country club party and lots of crush talk. The mean-girl stuff is pretty relentless too. But Chloe and Zoey are lovely, and the way they stand by Nikki is the heart of it.
If your reader loves a funny, dramatic diary full of feelings, this is a great pick. Any child who's lain in bed replaying an embarrassing moment will know EXACTLY how Nikki feels!
If they haven't met Nikki yet, start with Tales from a Not-So-Fabulous Life, where she's just started at Westchester Country Day and is desperate to get in with the popular crowd.
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