Dork Diaries is a humorous children's book series written and illustrated by Rachel RenƩe Russell. The series, written in a diary format, uses drawings, doodles, and comic strips to chronicle the daily life of its 14-year-old protagonist, Nikki Maxwell, in and outside of middle school.
Coming of age is an important theme in the novel āDork Diaries: Tales from a Not-So-Fabulous Lifeā by Rachel Renee Russell. Coming of age involves the personal, spiritual, moral, or emotional growth and maturation of an individual often based on real world experiences.
That description fits lead character Nikki Maxwell, an artsy 14-year-old who's a self-described dork and the āninth most unpopular girlā at Westchester Country Day. Key characters include her brown-haired crush, Brandon Roberts, and her mean-girl nemesis, MacKenzie Hollister.
The series has twelve books
A summary of the first book is
Dork Diaries
(Release date: June 2, 2009)
Fourteen-year-old Nikki Maxwell is not happy when her father arranges a scholarship for her to attend a private middle school called Westchester Country Day as part of the contract for his bug extermination services. Nikki does not fit in with the wealthy, designer clad students and spends most of her time alone writing in her diary. To make matters worse, she has a locker right next to the school's most popular girl, MacKenzie Hollister. MacKenzie labels Nikki as a "Dork" and goes out of her way to make Nikkiās life miserable.
It appears the new school may work out when Nikki befriends two other dorky but loyal girls, Chloe and Zoey. She even meets a really cute boy named Brandon. But, things take a turn for the worse when Nikki enters the school art show and discovers her main competition is her enemy, MacKenzie, who will stop at nothing to win.
