Many of us like to jot down our worst, most excellent, and dreadful minutes of our life in a diary. Written by Rachel Renée Russell, the Dork Diaries series is one diary series to be collected and cherished by all girls. It feels like a feminine version of Diary of a Wimpy Kid.

The protagonist of this series is a teenage ‘dork’ named Nikki Maxwell. She starts squirrelling away her deepest secret almost without a choice; her mother gifts her a diary instead of a new phone.

Nikki had just transferred to Westchester Country Day Middle School. She gets her locker next to Mackenzie Hollister, a CCP—cute, cool and popular. Being a CCP, Mackenzie’s public persona that exudes  awesomeness and almost sickening perfection seems to make Nikki feel like a humongous loser. Nikki can’t stand it when Mackenzie and her friends stand next to her locker, giggling and gossiping.

Over the course of the book, a whole bunch of day-to-day events unfurl that pit Nikki against MacKenzie. First, Nikki finds out about a new art competition, called Avant-Garde, and decides to participate in it. To her horror, she finds Mackenzie signing up as well. Within a few days, Nikki finds Mackenzie handing out invitations for her big birthday bash. That’s when she develops a crush on Brandon Roberts, the photographer of the school newspaper. Nikki also befriends Chloe Garcia and Zoey Franklin, two fellow self-confessed dorks as well. From deciding to get tattoos together ‘for a good cause’ to deciding to live in the sewers of New York, her new friends and her go through some major ups and downs. Eventually, Nikki finds herself alienated from her friends, is dubbed Bug Girl by her schoolmates, and sees her chance to win the Avant-Garde destroyed as well. Who said school was easy, huh?

How will Nikki win the Avant-Garde competition without a finished entry? What about her friendship with Chloe and Zoey? Will Nikki’s private feud with Mackenzie make her leave the school forever? No, I won’t disclose the ending. You have to read the book to find out! The first book of the Dork Diaries series was released in 2009 and very soon, it became a global bestseller. I really liked the first book of the series and I hope you like it too. Go to your nearest bookstore and grab your own copy!