Tales from a Not-So-Popular Party Girl (Dork Diaries Series #2)

by Rachel Renée Russell

Overview

Rachel Renee Russell's sequel to Dork Diaries is packed with adorable art and tons of laughs.

Recipe for disaster:
4 parties.
Add 2 friends and 1 crush.
Divide by 1 mean girl out to RUIN Nikki.
Mix well, put fingers over eyes, and CRINGE!

Settled in at her new school and flanked by awesome friends Chloe and Zoey, life is looking up for Nikki Maxwell, especially since her crush, Brandon, asked her to be his lab partner—a seriously awesome development. However, when Nikki overhears mean girl Mackenzie bragging that Brandon’s taking her to the Halloween dance, a bummed Nikki signs on to spend Halloween at a kids’ party with her little sister, Brianna, instead. After she finds out Mackenzie was lying and her dream of going to the party with Brandon could be a reality, Nikki has two events to juggle . . . plus plenty of other entertaining trials and tribulations along the way!

DorkDiaries.com

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781416980087
Publisher:	Aladdin
Publication date:	06/08/2010
Series:	Dork Diaries Series
Pages:	288
Sales rank:	5,471
Product dimensions:	6.40(w) x 8.60(h) x 0.97(d)
Lexile:	840L (what's this?)
Age Range:	9 - 12 Years

About the Author

Rachel Renée Russell is an attorney who prefers writing tween books to legal briefs. (Mainly because books are a lot more fun and pajamas and bunny slippers aren’t allowed in court.) Rachel lives in Chantilly, Virginia.

Rachel Renée Russell is an attorney who prefers writing tween books to legal briefs. (Mainly because books are a lot more fun and pajamas and bunny slippers aren’t allowed in court.) Rachel lives in Chantilly, Virginia.

Editorial Reviews

In this follow-up to her popular Dork Diaries: Tales from a Not So Fabulous Life, Russell offers a slight but amusing tale of a middle-school nerd who finds she is not so nerdy after all. The book is structured as the diary of Nikki Maxwell, with pages designed to look like handwritten, heavily illustrated entries. The story follows Nikki’s trials and tribulations in the face of harassment from the most popular girl in class, a possibly requited crush on her lab partner, kooky plans from her boy-crazy best friends, and complications from her pesky little sister. Things spin out of control when Nikki finds herself with three commitments the night of the big dance. The most affecting, original parts of the book are Nikki’s attempts to balance her excitement over her budding romance and her loyalty to her friends. The rest of the plot covers the well-trod territory of the lonely but lovable outsider. Filled with manga-inspired artwork, the story should amuse younger readers, but not challenge them. Ages 9-13. (June)

Publishers Weekly

The extended title at the bottom of the book cover is Tales from a NOT-SO-Popular Party Girl. This almost graphic novel is filled with drawings and text as well as separated text paragraphs on each page. The reader can easily see what they want to read, browse, or skip over and still get the focus of the story. These features will work quite well with fast and capable readers as well as with those who need high-interest low-vocabulary material. It is a very "busy" book. It permits the early teen readers to choose what paragraphs to read or not to read or simply to browse through. It captures the teen who wants to peruse and not to read every word and/or sentence. There's nothing wrong with any level reader choosing this book, but books like this one are great to catch and hold reluctant readers. Reviewer: Naomi Butler

Children's Literature - Naomi Butler

Gr 5–8—This book continues in the same vein as the first, sharing many of its flaws. In this installment, Nikki volunteers to help with the Halloween dance but overextends herself by committing to multiple duties in different places on the same night. Presented in diary format, the lined-paper pages and manga-style illustrations provide levity, but too frequently Nikki's adventures slip from amusing into improbable farce. The simplistic and highly unrealistic story; flat characters; and predictable ending will not appeal to readers who can handle the fairly advanced vocabulary. Strictly for fans of the first book.—Natasha Forrester, Multnomah County Library, Portland, OR

School Library Journal