BOOK RECOMMENDATIONS SPECIAL EDITION: DORK DIARIES BY RACHEL RENÉE RUSSELL
I know it's been a while since I did any book reviews, and as an author myself, I should be ashamed. To correct this, however, I wanted to do a review of a book series I finished a while back: Dork Diaries, by Rachel Renée Russell.
A bunch of you are already familiar with this series, but for those of you who aren't, here's the plot: teenage girl Nicole "Nikki" Maxwell gets into a private school in upstate New York called Westchester Country Day on account of her father, whose extermination business grants her a scholarship to the school by mere virtue of the fact that he does business with them. However, upon entering the school, she has a hard time getting adjusted, and not helping is the fact that Mackenzie Hollister, leader of the CCPs - Cute, Cool and Popular kids, a clique consisting of the most popular kids in school - and her fellow CCPs bully Nikki on a constant basis. However, Nikki is not alone, for she finds friends in fellow students Zoeysha "Zoey" Franklin and Chloe Christina Garcia, not to mention developing a crush on Brandon Roberts. Thus, from here on out, Nikki chronicles all the laughs, tears, smiles and drama in her diary, whether it's trying to save Brandon's pet shelter from closing down, entering a school talent show with her band Actually, I'm Not Really Sure Yet, and dealing with reality TV fame.
Overall, the first thing I admire about the series is Nikki's desire to succeed despite the odds being stacked against her. I may not have encountered the same troubles as her in school, but as an autistic guy who preferred classic hard rock and heavy metal over the latest pop hits of the day, I can totally identify with her struggles. Sure, I may be outside of the book's recommended demographic at 37 years of age, but that doesn't mean I can't enjoy her stories. Second of all, I often found myself laughing at various moments in the book. Miss Russell sure knows how to put a humorous spin on otherwise disastrous happenings. As for the more dramatic moments, I truly found myself on the edge of my seat, not only worried about what would happen to Nikki, but hoping she would get out of whatever jam she happened to be in. Fortunately, Nikki has good friends, because even when she feels like she's screwed up and her life is over, Zoey, Chloe, Brandon and the gang know that she has a very good heart and assure her that they love her no matter what. Also, another thing I could relate to was her family struggles. Throughout the books, there are occasions when either her parents or her bratty younger sister Brianna do things that make her feel like her family sucks sometimes, but again, things always turn out right in the end. On occasion, the books switch things up, for example, in Book 8, where Nikki gets knocked out during a dodgeball game and imagines she's in a fairy tale world. No matter what the books do, they are always an entertaining read.
I realize that the comparable Diary of a Wimpy Kid series is more popular, and some of you will argue that it is superior. However, my sister (again, not a biological sister, just a very good friend), who was the one who recommended me Dork Diaries in the first place, gifted me the first Diary of a Wimpy Kid book to try it out, and to me, Dork Diaries is clearly superior. First of all, let's talk about the protagonists. Whereas Nikki is a sweet, caring girl who means well, Greg Heffley from Diary of a Wimpy Kid seems like a real jerkass. Don't get me wrong, I'm also a fan of Beavis and Butt-Head, but unlike Greg, the titular duo don't mean to be jerkasses; they're just a couple of dopes who don't know any better, whereas Greg seems to be fully aware of what he's doing. Second of all, I love the art style of Dork Diaries way more. In fact, it inspired me to do my own fan art of the girls, which I posted on my fan blog. Third, the plots of the Dork Diaries books are more inspirational and teach better moral lessons than Diary of a Wimpy Kid. In fact, I love Dork Diaries so much more that I've written fanfics about it, whereas I can't say the same for Diary of a Wimpy Kid. Overall, the Dork Diaries books neatly earned a spot on my bookshelf, whereas Diary of a Wimpy Kid...earned a spot trying to hold up my bed after my shitty wooden bedframe broke...well, at least until I can get a proper metal one.
If there is anything bad I can say about Dork Diaries, however, it's that there are some inconsistencies between the first and second books. See, I bought most of the books as three-packs barring Book 16, and this meant that Book 1 came as a "Super Squee Edition", not only meaning that it was given a sparkly cover, but also given the updated art style from later books as well as having certain dialogue changes, such as the removal of slurs such as "retarded". While I do love the Super Squee Edition of Book 1, this meant that when I went to Book 2, it still had the early art style, which was jarring to me. Also, I've seen scans of the recent full-color edition of Book 1, and the art style doesn't look as appealing to me as the regular art style. Other than that, I don't have too much to complain about.
Overall, Dork Diaries is a great series that deserves a spot on your bookshelf. If you like reading high school stories, then this is the series for you.