Dork Diaries III

Dork Diaries III

Thursday, shelf reading in the Orono Public Library children's
wing, I helped another volunteer who was shelving by bringing the
books from the main check out desk to the juvenile shelving cart.
What to my delighted eyes did appear, but the latest in the Dork
Diaries series: Tales from a NOT-SO-Perfect Puppy Sitter. It was also
Friday. Fridays that I don't go out are candy nights. I allow myself
candy while I read with Joey cat on my lap. Highly dorky I am proud
to say. Rachel Renee Russell, Dork Diaries author, always encourages
her readers to let our inner dork shine through.
Nikki's nemesis and former locker neighbor, the ultra mean girl,
MacKenzie Hollister, has finally departed Westchester County Day
Middle School to attend posh North Hampton Hills International
Academy. Her presence is still strongly felt at her old school. Much
to Nikki's disgust, MacKenzie's old locker has been turned into a
shrine with its own Facebook page.
It gets worse, though. Just when Nikki and Brandon feel safe to
share a cupcake at the CupCakery you-know-who makes a surprise
appearance. Nikki is sure MacKenzie is up to no good. She doesn't
have to wait long to have her suspicions confirmed. When MacKenzie
threatens to get Fuzzy Friends (animal shelter) shut down, Nikki and
Brandon have to hide a golden retriever and her seven puppies. Nikki
volunteers her home for one night.
There are only two problems: her mom has said no to even one dog and
her little sister, Brianna, decides to go into the pet spa business.
What could possibly go wrong?
I was discussing series books recently with a fellow library
volunteer who considers the liberal use of line drawings in middle
school series books to be detracting. I say it's anything but. It's
not only that the pictures add greatly to the books' appeal. We tend
to have a snobby way of priviliging words over illustration and trying
to wean youngsters off anything but solid blocks of black and white
print. Have you ever noticed how many potential book lovers lose
interest in reading at this point? Personally I believe that, even
for adults, the integaration of visual and verbal makes for a highly
pleasurable reading experience. Look at the popularity of graphic
novels.
On a personal note, February 27 was one of the most wonderful and
exciting nights of my year to date. It was my third Bearfest. That's
a 12 hour dance marathon to raise money for Children's Miracle
Network. I strutted my stuff and learned some really good moves.
There were all kinds of yummy snacks. We were making ice cream sundaes
at 2:00 a.m. Yowza! We raised $75,000. How cool is that?
A great big shout out goes out to my fellow dancers and the people who
did all the work to make the event possible.
Julia Emily Hathaway



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