Dork Diaries: Sister Showdown

Nikki Maxwell's diary entries, doodles and comic panels drive this instalment of the Dork Diaries series, which has passed fifty million copies printed worldwide. The format mixes handwriting-style journal text with sketches, so pages move quickly and readers who resist solid blocks of prose get plenty of visual footing. Middle-school life supplies the material: friendships, rivalries, family and the everyday embarrassments that come with all three. Readers who enjoy Tom Gates, Lottie Brooks or the Wimpy Kid books will recognise the territory. How it reads: • Diary entries interleaved with drawings and comic strips • A first-person voice aimed squarely at middle-grade readers • Part of a long-running series with a global following • Short sections that suit reading in small bursts Made for middle-grade readers who prefer their fiction illustrated, available from Boipoka.