Parents' Guide to

Dork Diaries 9: Tales from a Not-So-Dorky Drama Queen

By Terreece Clarke, Common Sense Media Reviewer

age 9+

Installment in popular series is long on drama, stereotypes.

Book Rachel Renee Russell Friendship 2015
Dork Diaries 9: Tales from a Not-So-Dorky Drama Queen Poster Image

A Lot or a Little?

What you will—and won't—find in this book.

Community Reviews

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age 11+

Based on 5 parent reviews

swampfoxsouth
swampfoxsouth Parent of 11-year-old
March 23, 2023
age 10+

The Life of a Tenth-Grade Dork review by tucker martin

CSM LANGUAGE GUIDE: Infrequent mash-up of cursing and insults like "s--t," "idiot," "jerk," "jackass," "damn," "weird-ass," "dorks," "freakin'," "hell," "a--crack," "dummy," and "son of a bitch."
swampfoxsouth
swampfoxsouth Parent of 11-year-old
March 23, 2023
age 10+

The Life of a Tenth-Grade Dork review by tucker martin

CSM LANGUAGE GUIDE: Infrequent mash-up of cursing and insults like "s--t," "idiot," "jerk," "jackass," "damn," "weird-ass," "dorks," "freakin'," "hell," "a--crack," "dummy," and "son of a bitch."
See all 5 parent reviews

What's the Story?

Nikki's diary -- yes, that one -- has been stolen, and now Nikki's enemy, MacKenzie Hollister, is wrecking Nikki's life bit by bit. She's ruined her friendship with Brandon and may even get her fired (!) from her newspaper column. MacKenzie tells her side of the story in Nikki's diary, of course, and the results are less than dorky.

Is It Any Good?

Our review:
Parents say (5):
Kids say (22):

It feels as if the characters and the story regressed in this latest adventure, which boils down to the typical middle school drama stereotypes we saw in the first few installments. Unfortunately, the opportunity to see inside the "mean-girl mind" was wasted, and we find our heroine back to obsessing over the perfect boy vs. stepping up to stop the cyberbullying of a fellow classmate. There are some bright spots where we see a commonality between two of the main characters, but there isn't enough of that to offset the relatively routine nature of the story.

Talk to Your Kids About ...

  • Families can talk about cyberbullying. Instead of relishing the viral video of her "enemy," how could Nikki have helped?

  • How does journaling help you work out your feelings. Have you tried journaling?

  • How does real-life middle school drama compare with how it's portrayed on TV and in movies? Is school really that polarized, or does the media play up these negative characteristics of school life to get clicks, views, and shares?

Book Details

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