Through the Looking Glass Children's Book Reviews
Dork Diaries: Tales from a Not-So-Talented Pop Star
Fiction Series
For ages 9 to 12
Simon and Schuster, 2011 ISBN: 978-1442411906
Nikki Maxwell is feeling pretty good about life for a change. She got to dance with her “crush” Brandon at the Halloween dance ,and he does not seem to mind that she is a “dork.” Then, as per usual, things start to fall apart rather rapidly. It all begins when Nikki is forced to babysit her little sister Brianna. Brianna bamboozles Nikki into taking her to Queasy Cheesy for a pizza and to Nikki’s horror, the sisters are chosen to perform the Queasy Cheesy theme song. How embarrassing! Nikki has no choice but to get on the stage and get on with it. She is actually having a not-too-terrible time when she sees that her arch enemy. MacKenzie. is recording the whole performance on her cell phone.
Nikki lives in fear that MacKenzie is going to show everyone in school the video, but when nothing comes of it, Nikki starts to relax. Which is not a good idea. MacKenzie’s next move it to threaten to tell everyone that Nikki’s father is an exterminator and that Nikki is a scholarship kid. If Nikki wants her secret to stay a secret, she mustn’t participate in the school talent show.
Miserably Nikki tells her two best friends that she cannot be in the talent show with them. Nikki cannot bear to tell her BFFs what MacKenzie is up to, nor does she tell them about her dad and the scholarship. It is just too embarrassing.
As if this is not bad enough, there is a strange insect infestation in the school. Nikki is terrified that the principal will call in her father, the school’s contracted exterminator, and then everyone will know what her father does for a living. Everyone will see his beat up van with the enormous fake roach on the roof.
In this third Dork Diaries title, poor Nikki Maxwell gets into several sticky situations, and she discovers that it really does not pay to keep secrets from your friends. She comes to realize that it important to embrace who you are, even if you are a dork.
Written in a delightful journal format complete with a handwritten text and doodles, this is the third title in the Dork Diaries series.
