Reader Response                                 
 By: Anittha                       

   I am responding to Dork Diaries by Rachel Renee Russell. I have read 282 pages out of 282 pages. This text is fiction.

The main characters are Nikki, her friends-Chloe and Zoey- and the CCP (cute, cool and popular) group. The genre of this book is realistic fiction because all of the events could be true in life. The setting is at Nikki’s house and at mostly at Westchester Country Day-Nikki’s private school. The conflict is that Nikki is new to the school and she gets treated unfairly and bullied by the CCP club. The theme of the story is friendship and how she became the winner of the art competition because of her caring friends. The protagonist is Nikki and the antagonist is the CCP club.

Retell

What I really want to remember is that even though Nikki’s friends used her to be in the CCP club, at the end they worked hard on creating a project for the art competition and they were always there for her.  The text is really about Nikki going to a new school and how she handles being in a different environment and how she goes through all of the obstacles. The author got me interested when everyone was congratulating Nikki for winning the art competition when she didn’t even enter anything herself.  The setting of this text is important because it takes place in a private school and all the other kids were really rich and wear really expensive clothes. Nikki only got in the school because her dad worked as the school’s bug exterminator. Since Nikki was too ordinary everyone made fun of her. This wouldn’t have probably happened in a public school. The character I admired was Nikki’s grandma. She is 76 years-old and can dance hip-hop and really bust a move and flip upside down and all.

Relate

Nikki reminds me of myself. When I first came to this school in grade 6, I really felt lonely like how Nikki felt. I didn’t really know anybody, but as days went by I made friends and I started loving this school. Nikki liked her school at the end too and decided to stay. I believe Nikki’s situation happens around the world all the time. Students are being bullied and need to stand up and do something to show that they are just as good. Bullies need to stop too and just leave other students alone and find their own ways to be successful in life. Another book that is fairly close to this book is the book “bullied”. It is about a kid being bullied. If I could be any character I would be Chloe or Zoey because they were Nikki’s only friends and were being very kind and nice and created a project to submit to the art competition for Nikki.

Reflect

When I think about Chloe and Zoey I fell very proud because even though they used Nikki to be in the CCP club, at the end they worked together to create a project just for Nikki. This tells me that even though your friends or other people don’t recognize you, they will always be there for you and will be always watching your back and thinking and caring about you. I think the illustrations helped and made the book more interesting to read. The pictures added visuals to the novel. I’d like to read another text by this author because the author’s stories are realistic and very interesting because she adds detail and then leaves it. The reader would want to continue reading. Her story has a happy ending which I enjoy. I think the author wrote this text to show students how someone feels. I think she wants bullies to know how someone feels when being teased and she wants students to include everyone and not be selfish and mean to others. When I finished reading this book, one thing I told myself was to never leave someone out and always include people and be nice to everyone and to believe that friends are always there for you and will never leave your side.