title: Dork Diaries 1: Tales from a Not-So-Fabulous Life
author:  Rachel Rene Russell 
description: Grade 5-8Fourteen-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 <i>Diary of a Wimpy Kid</i> (Abrams) may enjoy this book, but it's an additional purchase.<i>Terry Ann Lawler, Phoenix Public Library, AZ</i> <br />Copyright  Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
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  **ALSO BY**
  
  Rachel Renée Russell
  
   **Dork Diaries:**  
   **Tales from a Not-So-Fabulous Life**
  
    
  
   **Rachel Renée Russell**
  
   **DORK**  
   **diaries**
  
   **Tales from a** **NOT-SO-** **Popular Party Girl**
  
   **Aladdin**  
   **New York London Toronto Sydney**
  
    
  
  This book is a work of fiction. Any references to historical events, real
  people, or real locales are used fictitiously. Other names, characters,
  places, and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination, and any
  resemblance to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, is
  entirely coincidental.
  
  ![](Images/image00075.jpeg) ALADDIN * An imprint of Simon & Schuster
  Children’s Publishing Division * 1230 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY
  10020 * [www.SimonandSchuster.com](http://www.SimonandSchuster.com) * First
  Aladdin hardcover edition June 2010 * Copyright © 2010 by Rachel Renée Russell
  * All rights reserved, including the right of reproduction i