Dork Diaries: Tales from a Not-So-Fabulous Life
(Dork Diaries #1)
1 star
282 pages
Published
June 2nd 2009
by Aladdin
The following review was written by my 11-year-old daughter. She wrote this completely on her own without any help from me. What a smartie!
This book was a stretch. None of
this would actually happen in a normal middle school. A normal 14-year-old girl
would not focus this much on popularity.
Nikki, the main character, is
pretty spoiled. Nikki’s little sister, Brianna, is the girl that was supposed
to be a pampered brat. Oh yes, she certainly was. I have noticed that in this
book, everything is totally exaggerated. So Brianna is treated like an adorable
kitten. Her parents think everything she does is so cute. The problem is that
when Brianna makes a mistake, like spitting food in a fish tank, she is never
corrected. Nikki has to clean up after her, not what a normal sister would do.
If I was Nikki, and, say, Brianna spit her food in the fish tank, I would not
fish it out immediately, I would bring her down and show her what a mess she
made. It’s so sad that Nikki hates her sister.
Mackenzie, on the other hand, is
even more spoiled. She is just so… glittery. She’s so glittery it’s unnatural,
and gross. Normal girls her age, even popular and rich girls, would not be this
way. Where are her parents when she is strutting through the halls like she’s
at a fashion show? No parent would approve of her having gazillion designer
purses! If Mackenzie were real, she would be broke. No matter how rich she was
to begin with. The whole “CCP” thing is just something the author probably made
up at the last minute. I read the part about Mackenzie keeping Nikki out of her
locker, and it’s completely uncalled for. 14-year-old girls don’t do that. No
one would do that! It also doesn’t make
sense that the teachers and the parents in the book have no idea what’s going
on.
No one in the book acts the way a
normal person would. Nikki doesn’t do anything when Mackenzie is being so
terrible to her. What bugs me is that instead of talking to a real person, like
her mom or dad, Nikki is constantly whining to her diary about how horrible her
life is. Someone needs to tell her that it could be worse. She has friends, she
has her own room, and she is talented.
What’s the deal about Nikki’s
parents pulling her out of school to go to a funeral for someone they didn’t
even know? I also hate the part in the beginning of the book when Nikki says
she thinks that it’s better to tell your secrets to the world rather than write
them in a diary. I just hate it when
Nikki calls her mom “brain dead” when she gives her a diary. Personally, I keep
a diary, and I think it has helped me a lot. The author should not have put the
part about Nikki starting off as a diary hater, and the next day turning into a
full scale, 4-page-a-day writer.
Nikki is not a good role model for
girls. The whole cell phone thing is just dumb. I know I wanted a cell phone
once, and my mom sat down and told me why not having a cell phone is better
than having one. Someone needs to tell Nikki to let the dream die. The whole
book is just drama, drama, and drama.
Nikki also has a computer in her
room. I am totally against her ordering things online without her parents
knowing. Who in their right mind would order a payphone off eBay and put it in
their locker?
The only
thing I liked about this book was the art. Although it is not something a
14-year-old would draw, it is amazing.