Dorks on Tour! Dork Diaries Tales from a NOT-SO Best Friend Forever by Rachel Renee' Russell

I'm going to have the MOST. EXCITING. SUMMER. EVER!!

SQUEEEEEEE!!

Nikki's band, I'm Not Actually Certain Yet, has won the audition to open for the super-popular Bad Boyz for a month-long coast-to-coast tour. They'll fly with the band, rehearse with the band, and stay in posh hotels where the Bad Boyz will be! It's a double-SQUEEEEEE occasion.

What could possibly go wrong?

Enter Nikki's arch-frenemy MacKenzie Hollister, who declares that her "daddy" will buy out the building where Fuzzy Friends
Animal Rescue is located unless Nikki agrees to let her audition with them and the Bad Boyz at least once on the tour. Nikki reluctantly agrees for the sake of the animals, and soon finds that MacKenzie has finagled herself into an internship with the tour and--worst of all--she will be Nikki's roommate for the tour.

I handled this situation in a very MATURE and PRIVATE manner.

I very calmly walked to the nearest restroom. Then I stepped inside the nearest stall.

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

But the show must go on, in Rachel Renee' Russell's latest installment in her best-selling, Dork Diaries 14: Tales from a Not-So-Best Friend Forever (14) (Aladdin Books, 2019). In this entry in her mega-popular middle-reader series, Nikki deals with the warring boy band, who have their own ego clashes, her fatigue from late-night shows and even later flights, dodging flocks of screeching NickChicks, early morning publicity appearances, and the meanest, most slovenly roommate ever. Will Nikki keep her own band working together smoothly while soothing the crotchety boy band member and working out a way to save Fuzzy Friends from the wrecking ball?

Teenage Dream or NIGHTMARE?

In this recent sequel, there's plenty of giggling and niggling among the main characters, with fun quizzes for middle-reader participation and illustrations by Russell's daughter, Nikki Russell, who provides scads of black-line cartoons on most pages, as this newest top-seller continues to make the world safe for DORKS. Middle readers have no complaints about these books except that they read them so fast!

And to do due diligence to dorky guys, Rachel Renee Roberts has a series just for middle-school boys, The Misadventures of Max Crumbly Books 1-3: The Misadventures of Max Crumbly 1; The Misadventures of Max Crumbly 2; The Misadventures of Max Crumbly 3.

Where There's a Will.... : Tallulah Plays the Tuba by Tiffany Stone

Tallulah wants to play the tuba,

More than anything.

Tallulah has lots of the right stuff. She already reads music. Her muscles are mighty, and her lungs are likewise.

But Tallulah is tiny.

Band director Mr. Greenwood thinks Tallulah is not exactly up to the tuba.

He suggests the piccolo. But Tallulah is less than pleased with its pipsqueak-y "thweet thweet."

But because Tallulah is small doesn't mean she can't think BIG. She refuses to abandon her dream of mighty OOM PAHS! She tries everything to be able to reach the mouthpiece. She tries to grow taller by downing steaks and stretching her arms and legs on the monkey bars, but still she's no bigger. She tries standing on a chair in music class and then standing on a chair AND all the music books in the band room. Band director Mr. Greenwood is impressed with her zeal, but says...

"We need those!

Her bandmates try to help by making her the top of their human pyramid.

But... now there is nobody left to be in the band.

But where there's a will, there's a way, and if Tallulah can't get up high enough for the tuba, perhaps she can bring the tuba down to her size, in Tiffany Stone's charming tale of the little tuba player who could, Tallulah Plays the Tuba (Annick Press, 2019). Stone's story joins many children's stories of the small character who doesn't let size stand in the way, with the additional suggestion that creativity and talent can triumph. Artist Sandy Nichols comes up with comical cartoons somewhat in the style of Hardy Gramatsky's classic little character, Little Toot that will bring chuckles from small kids who like to dream big. With a strong plug for band instruments and a clever and doughty heroine, this one will be a preschool and primary reader pleaser.