How to Dork Your Diary

The book blends a single-day narrative with interactive diary-keeping tips addressed directly to the reader. The story unfolds through diary entries that Nikki Maxwell, the self-described biggest "dork" at Westchester Country Day (WCD) middle school, writes in her younger sister's old doodle book after losing her own diary at school.

Nikki wakes at 6:05 on a Friday morning from a nightmare about losing her diary, only to realize the nightmare is real. She last saw the diary at breakfast the previous day, when she tucked it into the front zipper pocket of her backpack. When she opened the pocket during seventh period, it was gone. Terrified that someone will find and read her most personal secrets, Nikki spirals into tears. Since her diary is missing, she writes in a doodle book belonging to her younger sister, Brianna.

Nikki devises a four-step plan: check the school's lost and found, check her classrooms, search the hallways and cafeteria and library, and, if all else fails, crawl inside her locker and die. She also uses Brianna's doodle book to write numbered tips about how to keep a diary, framing them as instructions to herself in case she never gets her diary back. These tips appear throughout the book alongside interactive prompts for the reader, covering topics from personality quizzes to secret codes, artwork, goal-setting, and letters to one's future self.

At breakfast, Nikki is too nauseated to eat, especially while Brianna prepares a messy "gourmet breakfast" for Miss Penelope, Brianna's hand puppet. Once at school, Nikki rushes to the office and asks the school secretary, Mrs. Pearson, about a lost book. A student did turn one in, but it is a geometry textbook. Nikki digs through the lost and found box, but her diary is not there. Mrs. Pearson offers to alert student office assistants to watch for it, which alarms Nikki because one assistant is Jessica Hunter, the best friend of MacKenzie Hollister, a popular girl who openly despises Nikki. Fearing MacKenzie could intercept the diary, Nikki retreats to the bathroom for a meltdown.

In English class, Nikki searches around her desk without success. She recalls that the previous day, her best friend Chloe handed her a novel, and when Nikki unzipped her backpack to store it, the diary may have fallen out. In a humorous worst-case fantasy, Nikki imagines Chloe finding the diary and turning its contents into a bestselling book and Hollywood movie.

Before French class, MacKenzie bumps into Nikki in the bathroom and secretly sticks something humiliating on Nikki's back as a prank. In class, MacKenzie reveals she knows the diary is missing and threatens to search the entire school for it. Nikki faces two pressing questions: Will MacKenzie find the diary first, and what will she do with it?

During social studies, Nikki reports having checked the halls, library, and cafeteria without success. She briefly suspects her other best friend, Zoey Franklin, a fellow library shelving assistant, might have accidentally scooped up the diary while gathering books.

In gym class, Nikki confesses to Chloe and Zoey that she lost her diary, but they accidentally shout the news in front of the entire class. When Nikki reveals that MacKenzie is also searching for it, Zoey declares they must find it first, and Chloe insists that "MacKenzie and her CCPs (Cute, Cool & Popular girls) are no match for the three of us" (94). Nikki feels a renewed sense of hope.

At lunch, Chloe recalls that Nikki once accidentally threw her diary in the trash while dumping her tray. The three friends sprint to the outdoor Dumpster and climb inside to search, enduring the stench of spoiled food, but the diary is not there.

In biology, MacKenzie texts openly until the teacher, Ms. Kincaid, confiscates her phone and reads the last message aloud. It is from Brady Grayson, the school's star quarterback, telling MacKenzie that something is "way too risky" and that he can "give it back" to her after football practice, arranging to meet in the gym at three o'clock (119). Ms. Kincaid assigns MacKenzie a paper and withholds the phone for 10 days. After class, Nikki's crush, Brandon, gives her a spare spiral notebook so she can keep writing until she finds her diary. Nikki is touched by the gesture.

Between classes, Nikki, Chloe, and Zoey return to the office lost and found before Jessica's shift. They find MacKenzie and Jessica behind the counter, hastily putting items back into the box, with MacKenzie clutching her zipped purse. Nikki demands her diary back, but MacKenzie denies having it just as Principal Winston walks in. MacKenzie plays the victim and offers to open her purse for inspection; it is empty. Principal Winston praises MacKenzie's integrity and orders Nikki to apologize, which she does reluctantly. Walking back to her locker, Nikki feels humiliated but remains suspicious, reasoning that if the diary surfaces later, Winston will no longer consider MacKenzie a suspect.

In the library during study hall, Nikki stares out the window at football practice and suddenly connects Brady's text to her missing diary. MacKenzie must have passed the diary to Brady to avoid getting caught with it, which explains why her purse was empty. Nikki excitedly tells Chloe and Zoey she thinks she knows who has it.

The three girls use bathroom passes to sneak into the boys' locker room while the team practices. Nikki finds Brady's duffel bag and feels a small book inside, but it turns out to be a cupcake cookbook. When they hear Coach "Rowdy" Rowling approaching, the girls disguise themselves in dirty football uniforms from a laundry cart. The coach mistakes them for players. Brandon arrives to photograph the coach for a school article, recognizes the girls, and covers for them by asking to "interview" the three "players." The coach agrees and heads to the field. Brandon tells the girls to leave before the coach returns and wishes Nikki luck finding her diary.

At home that afternoon, Nikki feels defeated, believing the diary is gone forever. She reconsiders the office confrontation and concludes MacKenzie was likely bluffing, pretending to possess the diary so Nikki would stop searching and improve MacKenzie's own chances of finding it. Despite her despair, Nikki expresses gratitude for Chloe and Zoey, who risked trouble to help her.

At 4:30, Brianna bursts in from school and reveals that she took Nikki's diary for show-and-tell, displaying its pictures to her own elementary school teacher and classmates. She returns it to Nikki, who is stunned but relieved. Since Brianna had the diary all along, MacKenzie never actually had it, and none of Nikki's middle school peers read her secrets. Nikki hugs Brianna and makes her pinkie-promise never to take her belongings without permission again. Brianna denies responsibility, blaming Miss Penelope for stealing the diary. Nikki notes the similarities between the puppet and MacKenzie, both annoying and fond of tormenting her, and closes by declaring herself a total dork.