Dork Diaries Books in Order: How to read Rachel Renée Russell’s series?

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Written and illustrated by Rachel Renée Russell, Dork Diaries is a children’s book series about Nikki Maxwell, a misfit kid who lives with a weird family. She chronicles her life through text and art-her move to a new school, her battles with queen bee MacKenzie, and her zany adventures with her BFFs Chloe and Zoey by her side. Translated into 28 different languages, the popularity of Dork Diaries gave life to a spin-off series, The Misadventures of Max Crumbly.

How to read the Dork Diaries Series in Order?

1. Dork Diaries: Tales From a Not-So-Fabulous Life – Nikki confesses all in her first diary ever: her epic battle with her mom for an iPhone, meeting her new soon-to-be BFFs Chloe and Zoey, falling for adorably sweet crush Brandon, dealing with her zany little sister Brianna’s antics-and the immediate clashes with mean girl MacKenzie, who becomes Nikki’s rival in a school-wide art competition.
2. Dork Diaries: Tales From a Not-So-Popular Party Girl – Settled in at her new school and flanked by awesome friends Chloe and Zoey, life is looking up for Nikki Maxwell, especially since her crush, Brandon, asked her to be his lab partner–a seriously awesome development. However, when Nikki overhears mean girl MacKenzie bragging that Brandon’s taking her to the Halloween dance, a bummed Nikki signs on to spend Halloween at a kids’ party with her little sister, Brianna, instead. After she finds out Mackenzie was lying and her dream of going to the party with Brandon could be a reality, Nikki has two events to juggle…plus plenty of other entertaining trials and tribulations along the way!
3. Dork Diaries: Tales From a Not-So-Talented Pop Star – Nikki Maxwell has been doing everything she can to keep everyone at school from learning the truth–that she’s there on scholarship in exchange for her Dad working as the school’s exterminator. When a major talent competition is announced with a school scholarship offered as the top prize, it’s the perfect opportunity Nikki has been waiting for. Can she sing and dance her way to letting her dad (and her reputation!) off the hook?

4. Dork Diaries: Tales From A Not-So-Graceful Ice Princess – Nikki Maxwell isn’t at all surprised to find out that her crush Brandon volunteers at a local animal shelter-of course he wants to help those adorable puppies! And she’ll do whatever it takes to keep the shelter from closing. Nikki, Chloe, and Zoey enter an ice-skating competition to help raise money, but (big surprise) MacKenzie has to stick her nose in. Can Nikki and her BFFs still carry out their plan?
5. Dork Diaries: Tales From A Not-So-Smart Miss Know-It-All – Nikki Maxwell develops a sudden interest in student journalism that may or may not (okay, definitely does) have to do with the fact that mean girl MacKenzie has started writing a gossip column. So Nikki joins the school newspaper staff–and ends up as an advice columnist! It’s fun at first, answering other kids’ letters. But when Miss Know-It-All’s inbox is suddenly overflowing with pleas for guidance, Nikki feels in need of some help herself!
6. Dork Diaries: Tales From A Not-So-Happy Heartbreaker – It’s the biggest dance of the year and Nikki Maxwell is hoping her crush, Brandon, wants to be her date. But time is running out. What if he doesn’t want to go with her? Or worse–what if he ends up going with MacKenzie?!

7. Dork Diaries: Tales From A Not-So-Glam TV Star – Nikki’s juggling a lot this month. A reality TV crew is following Nikki and her friends as they record their hit song together, plus there are voice lessons, dance practice, and little sister Brianna’s latest wacky hijinks. Nikki’s sure she can handle everything, but will all the excitement cause new problems for Nikki and Brandon, now that cameras are everywhere Nikki goes?
8. Dork Diaries: Tales from a Not-So-Happily Ever After – After a bump on the head in gym class on April Fool’s Day, Nikki has a wild dream in which she, her BFFs Chloe and Zoey, her crush Brandon, and mean girl MacKenzie all end up playing the roles of some familiar classic fairy tale characters. Of course, the stories don’t go quite as expected–because they each have a very special Dork Diaries spin!
9. Dork Diaries: Tales from a Not-So Dorky Drama Queen – A certain member of the CCP girls Dork fans know all about has gotten her hands on Nikki’s diary and has decided to share some thoughts of her own…Find out what happens when Nikki’s worst nightmare becomes a reality. Welcome to MacKenzie’s world!!

10. Dork Diaries: Tales from a Not-So-Perfect Pet Sitter – Nikki has to hide seven ADORKABLE puppies from two parents, one nosy little sister, an entire middle school, and…one mean girl out for revenge, MacKenzie Hollister. If anyone can do it, it’s Nikki…but not without some hilarious challenges along the way!
11. Dork Diaries: Tales from a Not-So-Friendly Frenemy – Nikki Maxwell has the worst luck. Of all the schools she could have been assigned to for the student exchange week program, she’s stuck at North Hampton Hills, her archnemesis MacKenzie Hollister’s new school. Even worse, there might just be someone at NHH who can out-MacKenzie MacKenzie! Can the queen of dorks survive a week at the head CCP’s new school or will it be a dorky disaster?
12. Dork Diaries: Tales from a Not-So-Secret Crush Catastrophe – In Nikki Maxwell’s newest diary, it’s the countdown to the end of the school year, and Nikki’s juggling some big questions about how she’ll spend her summer. She’s also facing an unexpected crush catastrophe-there’s a new kid interested in Nikki, but the last thing she wants to do is accidentally hurt Brandon! It all comes down to a big decision Nikki has to make, and drama like she’s never faced before!

13. Dork Diaries: Tales From A Not-So-Happy Birthday – Nikki and her BFFs Chloe and Zoey have been planning a birthday party of epic proportions! There’s just one problem–Nikki’s mom says no way to the budget they need to make it happen. Nikki’s ready to call the whole thing off, but some surprising twists might take that decision out of her hands, and help comes from the person Nikki would least expect. One way or another, this will be a birthday that Nikki will never forget!
14. Dork Diaries: Tales from a Not-So-Best-Friend Forever – Nikki and her bandmates are looking forward to an AWESOME summer on tour as the opening act for the world-famous Bad Boyz! Nikki is a little worried when her frenemy, MacKenzie Hollister, weasels her way into a social media intern position with the tour. But she has a total MELTDOWN when she learns that MacKenzie is her new roommate! Will Nikki survive her dream tour as it quickly goes from AWESOME to AWFUL?!
15. Dork Diaries 15: Tales from a Not-So-Posh Paris Adventure – Ooh la la! Nikki Maxwell and her band are on their way to Paris, but they run into some roadblocks on the way… And Nikki’s French skills may not be as reliable as she hoped! Can she get them moving again in time to reach their destination?

Spin-off Series: Max Crumbly Books in Order

Introduced in Dork Diaries: Tales From A Not-So-Perfect Pet Sitter, Maxwell Crumbly keeps a diary about his challenges in middle school.

1. The Misadventures of Max Crumbly: Locker Hero – Max Crumbly is about to face the scariest place he’s ever been: South Ridge Middle School. There’s a lot that’s great about his new school, but there’s also one big problem–Doug, the school bully whose hobby is stuffing Max in his locker. If only Max could be like the hero in his favorite comics. Unfortunately, Max’s uncanny, almost superhuman ability to smell pizza from a block away won’t exactly save any lives or foil bad guys. But that doesn’t mean Max won’t do his best to be the hero his school needs!
2. The Misadventures of Max Crumbly: Middle School Mayhem – When we last left our hero, Max Crumbly, he had crash-landed on top of a Mighty Meat Monster pizza after taking a late-night tumble through the vents at South Ridge Middle School–and he was completely surrounded by three ruthless criminals! Will Max be shredded to bits like mozzarella cheese on the hard and crunchy pizza crust of doom? Can his friend and sidekick, computer whiz Erin, help get him out of this sticky situation alive?
3. The Misadventures of Max Crumbly: Masters of Mischief – Max and Erin face foes both new and old as their misadventures continue. Can the two friends avoid detection–and detention!–while keeping South Ridge Middle School safe from bullies and criminals?

Companion Books

• How to Dork Your Diary – A book chock-full of tips from Nikki on fun things to write about in your diary, with lots of space for readers to write and draw their own entries.
• Dork Diaries: OMG! All About Me Diary! – Narrate your very own Dork Diary with this write-in journal, filled with questions for every day and complete with art and quotes from Nikki Maxwell herself!

If you like our article about the Dork Diaries reading order, don’t forget to bookmark it! You may also be interested in Diary of a Wimpy Kid.