Tales from a Not-So-Fabulous Life

dragonzatch - I take a huge objection to the first sentence of this description - "It's like Diary of a Wimpy Kid for girls..." Incorrect. 1. I know plenty of guys and girls who read Diary of a Wimpy Kid. 2. Diary of a Wimpy Kid wasn't this masochistic plagarized piece of dribble Dork Diaries is. My little sister, who is in third grade, is obsessed with these books; being curious and a protective big brother, I opened a copy once that she left on the kitchen table to see just what she always had her nose in. First sentence: "Sometimes I wonder if my mom is BRAIN DEAD." Sigh. While Greg from Diary of a Wimpy Kid has his struggles with his parents, he never went straight out and bashed his mom. Then she begins to whine about how her mom won't buy her an iPhone, and complains about how her phone is so old and she'll never be popular without one of those shiny new iPhones. Then her mom comes home with a present for her one day after school; a diary. Instead of saying "thank you", Nikki has a tantrum about how "only a total DORK would be caught writing in a diary!" Well, if you would've said "brat", you would be perfect for a diary! Then we get this glorious paragraph: "Before I could say 'Come in.', they just kinda barged in like they always do, which really irritated me, because this is supposed to be MY room! And as an American, I have a constituational right to privacy, which they keep invading." Then she cries and throws a temper tantrum about school in front of her parents (reminder: this is an eighth grade girl), and her mom actually has sympathy for her. She then goes through more drama, which isn't even worth summarizing it all because writing it makes me cringe. She mopes in her room all day, complaining about how mean the popular girls are and how her friends "betrayed" her and how her mom just doesn't understand and blah blah blah. This is what's popular? This is the only thing I saw popular cliques read at my old school? It seems the author seems to get some kind of pleasure out of giving Nikki pain, because there's no way nothing good would happen to her ever, right? Well, the author seems to be a masochist who I'm sure squeals with delight every time she finishes a page with Nikki being yelled at/crying about her life. More importantly, this is what is marked as appropriate reading for THIRD GRADERS? This is simply too trashy to be true. I tried to convince myself it was satire. But there's no sign of that anywhere in this; this book takes itself completely seriously, in fact WAY too seriously. "Oh you're a middle school boy you don't know what you're talking about you're just being all angry cuz it's a girls book!" You know what? I proudly read Junie B. Jones, Judy Blume, and other girls stuff in elementary school. Stuff for girls can be just as good as stuff for boys. This puppy just needs to be euthanized before it can breed (the thought of Dork Diaries ripoffs makes me pray for the sake of children's book sections everywhere...)

July 1, 2009
Gr 5-8-Fourteen-year-old Nikki J. Maxwell has been awarded a scholarship to a prestigious private middle school as a part of her fathers 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 neighbors hearing aid and plays pranks on her little sister, is somewhat of a mean girl herself. All the other characters are underdeveloped, including Nikkis 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 Kinneys "Diary of a Wimpy Kid" (Abrams) may enjoy this book, but its an additional purchase."Terry Ann Lawler, Phoenix Public Library, AZ"

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