Amanda and Juno enjoy a little light reading at bedtime.

If you’ve never read any of these books, here is a short excerpt from Dork Diaries 9, courtesy of Amazon.com:

WEDNESDAY, APRIL 2

The past twenty-four hours of my life have been so disgustingly NAUSEATING that I’m actually starting to feel like a . . . puddle of . . . um, cat . . . VOMIT!!

First I ruined my brand-new sweater with a PBJ and pickle sandwich (a long story).

Then I got hit in the face by a dodgeball during gym in front of the ENTIRE class and ended up trapped in a wacky fairy tale (an even longer story!).

Okay, I can handle the utter HUMILIATION of walking around school OBLIVIOUS to the fact that a SANDWICH is stuck to my abdomen like duct tape.

Hey, I can even handle a mild concussion. However, what I CAN’T handle is the fact that “someone” started an AWFUL rumor about me!

I overheard two CCP (Cute, Cool & Popular) girls gossiping about it in the bathroom.

Rumor has it that my CRUSH kissed me (at a charity event last weekend) on a DARE merely to snag a FREE large pizza from Queasy Cheesy!

Of course I totally FREAKED when I heard it! Not only is a dare like that rude and insensitive, but it’s a very cruel joke to play on a person like . . . well . . . ME!

I was SURE the whole thing was a big fat LIE! Sorry! But everyone knows Queasy Cheesy pizzas are just NASTY! Had it been a dare for a yummy Crazy Burger, I’d TOTALLY believe it!

Hey, I’ll be the first to admit, that rumor could have been A LOT worse. But STILL . . . !! I just wish “someone” would stay out of my personal business. And by “someone,” I mean my mortal enemy . . . MACKENZIE HOLLISTER images!!

I don’t know why that girl HATES MY GUTS! It wasn’t MY fault Principal Winston gave her a three-day detention for “unsportsmanlike behavior” for slamming me in the face with that dodgeball.

I’m really LUCKY I’m not in a COMA right now! Or undergoing life-threatening surgery… Anyway, as punishment for what MacKenzie did to me, she has to clean the bug-infested showers in the girls’ locker room. Unfortunately, I learned today that the bug problem in there is REALLY bad!! I was sitting behind MacKenzie in French class finishing up my homework when I noticed there was something stuck in her hair.At first I thought it was one of those fancy designer barrettes she loves to wear. But when I took a closer look, I realized it was actually a gigantic dead STINK BUG!!

That’s when I tapped her on the shoulder. “Um, MacKenzie! Excuse me, but I just wanted to let you know that—”

“Nikki, WHY are you even talking to me?! Just mind your OWN business!” she said, glaring at me like I was something her spoiled poodle, Fifi, had left in the grass in her backyard.

 

A photo posted by David Giroux (@davegiroux) on