Books these days come in all shapes and sizes, just so as to attract children towards reading. Books following the diary format have made a place in the kids’ fiction segment and there are a number of series in it. Dork Diaries by Rachel Renee Russell is one such series that has been a bestseller.

The humorous book series, aimed at children nine years onwards, features the diary entry of 14-year-old Nikki Maxwell, along with drawings, doodles and comic strips that depict the rolarcoaster of a life she has, both at home and at school.

Once Upon A Dork, the eighth book in the series follows the life of Nikki where a knock on the head makes Nikki fall unconscious only to wake up and find herself in a dream-like world with fairy tale characters in fairy tale land. Now a fairy land would be any girl’s dream come true, but not for Nikki because here her bratty little sister in real life is her fairy godmother Brianna!

But Nikki has her friends Chloe and Zoey with her in this crazy dreamland, as well as the mean girl Mackenzie who hates Nikki and everyone plays major characters in different classic fairy tales, all mixed up together. Also among her friends in this dreamland are Goldilocks and Red Riding Hood. Nikki has to get back to the real world or she and her school fellows will be lost forever in this crazy place.

How she survives the magic and madness of the fairy tales world and gets back to reality is something fans of the series would enjoy reading about.

Let me give a little spoiler here — it is Brianna who helps Nikki out of the mess in the end, making Nikki say, “You’re the BESTEST sister I got!

As usually, there are pages and pages of illustrations in between the text, giving a comic-book effect that will make new readers at ease with the book. The many words in all caps convey the feelings of the characters with more effect.

Once Upon A Dork is a humorous book that young readers will generally enjoy. I can’t compare it will the others in the series because I haven’t read it, but I intend to.

Available at Paramount Books Pvt. Ltd.

Published in Dawn, Young World April 29th, 2017