- Dork Diaries
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Dork Diaries (series) 
Dork Diaries logoAuthor Rachel Renee Russell Country United States Language English Genre Realistic fiction Publisher Aladdin Paperbacks Published June 2009-present Media type Print (Hardcover) Dork Diaries is a humorous book series written and illustrated by Rachel Renee Russell.
These books are the personal diary of 14-year old Nikki Maxwell. They feature drawings, doodles and comic strips that chronicle the daily drama of her life in (and outside of) middle school.
Rachel Renee Russell said that this series was inspired by her own middle school experiences as well as her two daughters. Her younger daughter, Nikki, helps her with the illustrations. Dork Diaries is published by Aladdin Paperbacks.[1]
Contents
Novels/Books
There are currently three books in the series. The fourth book is a DIY book, which is scheduled to come out in fall 2011.
Book 1
Book cover for Dork Diaries: Tales From a Not-So-Fabulous Life
Dork Diaries: Tales From a Not-So-Fabulous Life (Release Date: June 2, 2009)
14-year-old Nikki Maxwell is not happy when her father arranges a scholarship for her to attend a private middle school called Westchester Country Day (WCD) as part of the contract for his bug extermination service.
Nikki does not fit in with the designer-clad students and spends most of her time alone writing in her diary her mom had gotten her instead of an iPhone. To make matters worse, she has a locker right next to the school's most popular girl, MacKenzie Hollister. MacKenzie is a fashion-obsessed, shallow girl who has an addiction to lip gloss and claims that Nikki as a “Dork” and goes out of her way to make Nikki’s life miserable. One way of doing it is trying to steal the heart of Nikki's crush, Brandon Roberts, a school newpaper photographer.
It appears the new school may work out when Nikki becomes friends two other dorky girls, Chloe Garcia and Zoeysha Franklin (Zoey), after they were hired as library shelving assistants (LSAs). But, things take a turn for the worse when Nikki enters the school art show and discovers her main competition is her enemy, MacKenzie, who will stop at nothing to win.
Book 2
Book cover for Dork Diaries: Tales From a Not-So-Popular Party GirlDork Diaries: Tales From a Not-So-Popular Party Girl (Release Date: June 8, 2010)
Nikki Maxwell has an interesting semester at her new school. She also has a few parties to attend. Nikki also hopes her crush, Brandon Roberts, will ask her to the Halloween dance. However, she overhears MacKenzie bragging that Brandon is going to the dance with her. But Brandon ends up not going with her to dance but going with Nikki. Brandon rejects \mackenzie and she quits being chairperson and puts Nikki in charge.
Can she take the pressure?
Book 3
Book cover for Dork Diaries: Tales From a Not-So-Talented Pop StarDork Diaries: Tales From a Not-So-Talented Pop Star (Release Date: June 7, 2011).[2]
The drama between Nikki Maxwell and MacKenzie Hollister escalates as Nikki enters the school's talent show in hopes of winning the prize.
But when Nikki finds out that MacKenzie posted an embarrassing video of her on Youtube and threatens Nikki that if she signs up for the talent show she will show the whole school the video, Nikki cancels doing the talent show- which causes Chloe and Zoey to join MacKenzie's dance group. Leaving Nikki heartbroken. It doesn't help when she finds out that MacKenzie is Brandon's new 'apprentice' in his photo work. Also when Nikki finds out that her dad has to either exterminate the mysterious bugs in Nikki's school or pay the expensive bill of Nikki's school tuition.
But Nikki gets high hopes when all her fears have cleared up. Nikki starts a band with a few friends(Theodore L. Swagmire III, Violet Baker, Marcus, and of course, Brandon), and gets back in the Talent Show. But Nikki still has to confront Mackenzie and her feud with Chloe and Zoey.
Awards/Honors
Book 1
Dork Diaries: Tales From a Not-So-Fabulous Life has been on the New York Times Best Sellers list for 42 weeks [3] and the USA Today Best Sellers list for 7 weeks.[4] It was awarded the 2010 Children’s Choice Book of the Year Award for the 5th/6th grade division.[5] On February 10, 2011, it was nominated as Book of the Year by the Nickelodeon Kid's Choice Awards.[6]
Book 2
Dork Diaries: Tales From a Not-So-Popular Party Girl has been on the New York Times Best Sellers list for 42 weeks [7] and the USA Today Best Sellers list for 12 weeks.[8] Books 1 and 2 appeared on the New York Times Bestsellers list simultaneously for 17 weeks, with the former peaking at #4 and the latter at #2.
Book 3
Dork Diaries: Tales From a Not-So-Talented Pop Star has been on the New York Times Best Sellers list for 12 weeks [9] and the USA Today Best Sellers list for 13 weeks.[10]
Sales and Foreign Rights
Currently, over 3.3 million copies of the Dork Diaries books are in print in the United States.
Publishing rights have been sold in 27 countries with translation into 23 different languages.[11]
Audio Books
Audios books for Books 1 and 2 were released on September 28, 2010.[12]
Characters
Nikki Maxwell, main character in the Dork Diaries series.''''Nikki J. Maxwell The main character of the series and a new student at Westchester Country Day. She has short, straight brown hair and brown eyes. Because Nikki doesn't fit in with the designer-clad students, she spends most of her time alone writing in her diary. She depises her locker neighbor (and enemy), MacKenzie Hollister. Nikki only attends WCD because her dad arranged a scholarship as part of his contract as the school's bug exterminator. She has a crush on Brandon Roberts. Her art skills are well above average (despite her going to art camp every summer) and won WCD's art competition with the help of her friends(Chloe Christina Garcia,Zoeysha Ebony Franklin and Brandon Roberts)in the first book. She is, however, extremely bad at math. Nikki has a 6-year-old sister named Brianna. She is best friends with Chloe and Zoey and works with them in the Library. When she grows up, she wants to be an artist. She was selected as the chairperson for the Halloween Dance after MacKenzie Hollister quit being Chairperson and saved the dance. Her relationship with Brandon grows in the third book of the series.
MacKenzie Hollister The "most popular girl" at Westchester Country Day and is the leader of a clique dubbed as "Cute, Cool & Popular" (CCP for short). Like other popular girls in stories, she has blonde hair, blue eyes and is wealthy. MacKenzie is self-centered, carries expensive handbags, always wears designer clothes (i.e: Jimmy Choo, Aeropostale , Abercrombie & Fitch) and large amounts of lip gloss. Her locker is next to Nikki’s. She, too, has a crush on Brandon Roberts and tries to flirt with him by twirling her hair whenever possible, but little does she know, Brandon likes Nikki, not her. MacKenzie despises Nikki and calls her a dork. She claims that Nikki's the most unpopular girl at her school (only slightly above the locker room shower slime). She talks behind Nikki's back and tries to "wreck her social life" with the help of her BFF, Jessica Hunter. MacKenzie has an "annoying" little sister named Amanda. She entered the avant-garde art competition, but lost to Nikki. Although in the third book, she beat Nikki in the WCD Talent Show with her dance group called "Mac's Maniacs."
Chloe Christina Garcia Nikki’s best friend. Chloe Has long black hair and short bangs, works in the library with Nikki and Zoey and is an avid reader, particularly young adult romances. As a result, she is an expert on "guys and dating," according to Nikki. Her parents own a software company. She is labeled as being the "Fifth most unpopular girl" at Westchester Country Day. She(according to Nikki) read almost every single teen magazine and romance novel there ever is.She has a younger brother named Joey
Zoeysha "Zoey" Ebony Franklin Nikki's other best friend, Has short dark brown hair that curves in at the bottom. Zoey also works in the school library with Nikki and Chloe. Her mother is a lawyer and her father is a record executive, although they are divorced. Zoey is labeled as the "Seventh most unpopular girl" in the school in the series. She is described to be a 14-year old Dr. Phil in lip gloss and hoop earrings by Nikki.
Brandon Roberts Nikki and MacKenzie's love interest. He has brown hair and blue eyes. He is the school's photographer newspaper. He also plays the drums. Brandon is shy and sweet towards Nikki and her friends. He is shown to like Nikki more throughout the series and nearly kisses her in book 3 but was interrupted by Brianna.
Brianna Maxwell Nikki’s 6-year-old sister. Brianna is afraid of the tooth fairy because Nikki told her that the tooth fairy collects children's teeth to make dentures. She has a friend named Miss Penelope (which was a face she drew on her hand). According to Nikki, Brianna is "bratty and always gets her way". Brianna is obsessed with a movie series called "Princess Sugar Plum." Brianna has an angelic face according to Nikki.
Jessica Hunter MacKenzie's BFF and the "second most popular" girl at WCD. Just like MacKenzie, Jessica has blonde hair and she is a girly-girl. She also despises Nikki because in the first book, Nikki opened a invitation that was supposed to be for her. For example, she also talks behind Nikki's back and tries to "wreck her social life" by helping MacKenzie humiliate her. In the third book, it was revealed that Jessica is the fifth hour office assistant.
Violet Baker The "most popular girl" out of the most unpopular people. When she signs up to run for chairperson of WCD's halloween dance, she loses to MacKenzie Hollister and signs up for clean-up committee instead. When MacKenzie quit, Violet became head of the entertainment committee. She is said to have a large iTunes collection and is paraplegic. She first appears in the second book. In the third book, she joins Nikki's Band and is shown tp be a talented piano player and has won some piano competitions. Is in a wheel chair for reasons yet to be explaned
Theodore L. Swagmire III The "second most popular" out of the most unpopular people at WCD. His first appearance was in the first book. In the second book, it was said that he had a huge crush on MacKenzie despite the fact that MacKenzie said her date to the Halloween dance was the "lead singer of the band," (who happened to be him). In the third book, he joins Nikki's band because his friends (except his friend Marcus) in his jazz band SuperFreaks ditched him for MacKenzie's dance group.He is in the school orchestra playing the cello.
References
- ^ "Dork Diaries: About"
- ^ "Dork Diaries: About"
- ^ "The New York Times Best Sellers: Children's Books" on nytimes.com"
- ^ "Best-Selling Books Database on USA Today"
- ^ "Children's Choice Book Awards Announced"
- ^ "Nickelodeon Kid's Choice Awards 2011 Nominees"
- ^ "The New York Times Best Sellers: Children's Books" on nytimes.com"
- ^ "Best-Selling Books Database on USA Today"
- ^ "The New York Times Best Sellers: Children's Books" on nytimes.com"
- ^ "Best-Selling Books Database on USA Today"
- ^ "Dork Diaries: News"
- ^ "Dork Diaries Audiobooks on Amazon.com"
External links
- Official website
- Dorkdiariesblog.com, Nikki Maxwell's blog
Categories:- 2009 books
- American young adult novels
- 2010 books
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