Aug 1, 2021
The first book in Rachel Renée Russell’s Dork Diaries series, Tales from a Not-So-Fabulous Life, captures what it’s like to be a tween/young teen girl. Nikki Maxwell must try to fit in at a new, preppy school that she attends on a scholarship. Nikki will have to navigate friends, crushes, and popular enemies, recounting it all in her diary.
While I am definitely older than this book’s target audience, I still found it endearing and entertaining. At first, I thought some aspects of the book and its characters were too dramatic; however, after some reconsideration, I think that the attitudes of those more exaggerated moments perfectly encapsulate what it feels like to be an 8th-grade girl.