Title:
Dork Diaries
Author: Rachel
Renee Russell
Illustrator: Rachel
Renee Russell, Nikki Russell, Leisl Adams
Publisher: Simon
and Schuster
Date of publication:
2009
Format: Paperback
Source: My
own copy
Dork
Diaries (originally named Dork Diaries: Tales From A
Not-So-Fabulous Life in the USA) is the first instalment in the
tween book series of the same name which concentrates on the antics
of the dorky Nikki J. Maxwell and her family, friends and rivals.
In
spite of the marketing advertising it as the girl’s counterpart to
Diary Of A Wimpy Kid, the story’s plotline itself is
entirely different, with Nikki moving to the elite Westchester
Country Day school and facing off against the resident queen bee
MacKenzie Hollister in a school’s art competition. She also makes
friends with the zany Chloe and Zoey and attracts the romantic
attention of the school newspaper’s photographer Brandon Roberts.
All of these characters are memorable and fleshed-out and the hijinks
that occur as the plot progresses will have you both laughing out
loud and sympathising for Nikki at the same time. The pictures,
another gimmick of the book that stand out, are drawn in either a
cartoony stick-figure style or a manga influenced style. Being a big
fan of manga myself, I really liked this addition to the book and
felt that these pictures were really well-drawn and humorous.
Furthermore, it features nearly all of the high school genre
conventions that we know and love as well as some new additions to
it.
Overall,
this is a very funny book with brilliant cartoons and memorable
characters that everyone can enjoy and sets the tone of the series as
a whole as well as providing a good start to it. I would definitely
recommend it for the pre-teen and early teenage market.
