Dear Dumb Diary Year 2 Giveaway!

Dear Dumb Diary Year 2 Giveaway!

Dear Dumb Diary fans know that Jamie Kelly is in Year 2 of writing her dumb diary (which you do NOT have permission to read)! But. . . in case you did happen to sneak a peek into the first book from Year 2: School. Hasn't This Gone on Long Enough?, then you might be interested to know that the next book, titled The Super-Nice Are Super-Annoying, is coming out this month. (Steal a sneak peek at the first chapter here.)

AND, you can enter for a chance to win both books from Year 2 plus an autographed print from the author, Jim Benton! When you enter your reading minutes in the Summer Challenge, you can also enter for a chance to win this amazing prize! The contest ends on June 27, so go to the Summer Challenge now.

PS. If you haven't already seen how awesome Jim Benton is, then you should also watch this random, hilarious pancake love story video. Just watch it. That's all I'm sayin'.

— Sonja, STACKS Staffer

Dear Dumb Diary Scavenger Hunt Answers

Last week I posted a Dear Dumb Diary Scavenger Hunt. You may have noticed that here at THE STACKS, we love Dear Dumb Diary. We've got a bunch of blog posts on it including reviews of the books, and even a video with the author.

But now without further ado, here are the official Jamie Kelly approved Scavenger Hunt answers!

1. How many dumb diaries does Jamie Kelly have so far?
   ANSWER: Eleven! Although #12 is coming out soon. Check them all out here.
   
2. Name the person who is NOT allowed to read Jamie's diaries?
   ANSWER: Angeline.
3. What is Jamie's popularity level on a scale of 1-10? (that she gives herself!) Hint: Check out the "It's All About Me" section.
   ANSWER: 7 (but should be 8).
4. According to Stinker's Collectible Card, what disease did the dog have?
   ANSWER: Frantic Itchy Butt Disease. Luckily, it cleared up.
5. Under "Dumb Fun" create your own diary entry! What is your nickname?
   ANSWER: Depends on your answers. Mine is chocolate girl.
6. According to The Author section when he interviews Jamie, what is her favorite lipgloss flavor?
   ANSWER: Triple Berry Fiesta. But she sort of ate part of it, which made her sick. She doesn't have it anymore.
7. In the "It's All About Me" section when you click on the So Who is This Guy? icon. . . who is that guy?
   ANSWER: Jim Kelly, the author of the Dear Dumb Diary series.

Are you guys fans of the Dear Dumb Diary series? Do you keep your own diary? Drop a line and let us know in the Comments below!

—Ratha, Stacks Writer

Dear Dumb Diary Scavenger Hunt

If you can't get enough of the hilarious, embarrassing, relatable (and sometimes mean) diaries of Jamie Kelly. . . then you should see her website! The first time I read a Dear Dumb Diary book I really couldn't put it down. From her warning not to continue reading, to her descriptions of the evil beautifully blonde Angeline, to her recounts of her dog passionately kissing his favorite toy Grossnasty - this is one of the most popular and lol-inducing series around. So if you aren't already familiar with it, scavenge around the Dear Dumb Diary site for the answers to this week's Scavenger Hunt. Begin!

1. How many dumb diaries does Jamie Kelly have so far?
2. Name the person who is NOT allowed to read Jamie's diaries.
3. What is Jamie's popularity level on a scale of 1-10? (that she gives herself!) Hint: Check out the "It's All About Me" section.
4. According to Stinker's Collectible Card, what disease did the dog have?
5. Under "Dumb Fun" create your own diary entry! What is your nickname?
6. According to The Author section when he interviews Jamie, what is her favorite lipgloss flavor?
7. In the "It's All About Me" section when you click on the So Who is This Guy? icon. . . who is that guy? 

Check back next week for answers!

—Ratha, Stacks Writer

Trivia Tuesday Wimpy Kid Answers Exposed

Ok Splotters, let's see how Wimpy you truly are. Last week I posted a Diary of a Wimpy Kid quiz. Here's the ranking system:

• Wicked Wimp Winner (4 or more right) Go straight to your profile and change your mood to Wimpy!
• Sort-Of Wimpy (3 right)
• Not Really a Wimp (less than 2 right)

And the answers are...

1. Greg's little brother's nickname for him is Bubby.
2. Greg wrapped himself in toilet paper to keep warm.
3. When their parents went away for the weekend, Rodrick had a wild party and locked Greg in the basement.
4. Greg wore speedos (a super tight and not-so-super-stylish male swimsuit) when he didn't have any clean underwear. They were later exposed in gym class.
5. When Greg's family was driving back from the water park, they accidentally left Greg's mom in a gas station bathroom.

BONUS ANSWER: 217 is the number of pages each Diary of a Wimpy Kid hardcover book contains.

Are you as wimpy as me? Or wimpier? Well if there's one lesson to be learned, it's that wimps of the world should unite. Stand tall (as our spindly legs will allow us). Be proud (until our older siblings expose our most embarrassing secrets). And write it down. Because as Greg would say, we will not have time to tell everyone our life story when we are rich and famous.

— Ratha, Stacks Writer

Dear Dumb Diary Sneak Peek: Take Three

It's getting harder and harder to get a hold of these top-secret diary entries — Jamie Kelly is catching on! — so this may be the last one for a while. It's juicy, though: Jamie, Isabella, and Angeline are becoming BFFs? Not if Jamie has anything to say about it.

(Just between us, you can find Jamie's latest complete diary, Dear Dumb Diary #9: That's What Friends Aren't For, in stores now . . . but don't tell her that!)

Dear Dumb Diary,

So now I'm friends with Angeline. This is an Automatic Friendship, and I have to just accept it and make the best of things.

See, if I objected, then Aunt Carol might divorce Angeline's uncle, sending both of them tumbling into a deep pit of depression for the rest of their lives, and Angeline could wind up feeling so guilty that she would have to go be locked up in an old dirty insane asylum for years and years, and Stinker's puppies would grow up not knowing both their parents — and I couldn't live with myself for doing something like that to a puppy.

I've talked to Isabella about the Angeline thing, since she's my BFF. That's what best friends are for, after all. But she seems to think that we should be friends with Angeline, and that if I'm having a problem with Angeline, we should just hug it out.

You know, maybe that would help. When you think about it, choking is just a hug that your hands give to a throat.

Isabella says that Angeline thinks of the three of us like BFFs. I could have pointed out to Isabella that, last time I counted, there are only two Fs in BFF. And there's a reason for that. If you get too many Fs, it doesn't look like Best Friends Forever anymore. It looks like you're trying to spell the sound a fart makes. Observe: BFFFFFFFFFFFF.

But I didn't say that, because we're all automatically such terribly good friends now. Terribly, terribly, good friends. Terribly, terribly.

Signed,

Dear Dumb Diary Sneak Peek: Take Two

A few days ago, you got a peek at one of Jamie Kelly's brand-new diary entries from Dear Dumb Diary #9: That's What Friends Aren't For. We've managed to get our hands on another one, all about blondwad Angeline — check it out below! But Jamie Kelly has no idea that you or anybody is reading her diaries. So please, please, please don't tell her.

Dear Dumb Diary,

And speaking of shooting somebody out of a cannon, I don't know if I've ever mentioned this girl to you before, Diary — her name is Angeline?

First, before we discuss Angeline, let's take a moment to discuss AUTOMATIC FRIENDSHIPS. Automatic Friendships occur like this: Let's say you and a person from your school who you only kind of know both show up at the same beach one day and there's nobody else to hang around with. BAM — you're automatic friends. Maybe only for a day, but still. It's just the Way the Universe Does Things.

Or let's say you go to prison. You committed some cool crime like stealing the weapon of somebody who was going to blast an endangered baby orphan koala in the face. Still, the judge says that stealing is stealing, and he sends you to prison for it. And in prison, you meet somebody who is in for the same kind of crime, but for her it was like an endangered baby orphan panda or just an endangered baby orphan. BAZOOM — now you two are automatic friends.

Ever since Angeline's Uncle Dan (my school's assistant principal) married my Aunt Carol, AND Angeline's dog married my dog and they had puppies together, I'm automatically friends with Angeline. No beach, no orphan koalas, just KABLAM — automatic friends.

You'll notice that it's not because I like her. It's just how things work. It's like math: Poor little Two got plussed with Three.

Signed,

Sneak Peek: Dear Dumb Diary #9

Everyone's favorite middle-schooler, Jamie Kelly, is back — with an all-new, all-funny diary! A lot has been happening at Mackerel Middle School, and Jamie is documenting every minute of it. Check out this special peek at Dear Dumb Diary #9: That's What Friends Aren't For, in stores now! Jamie promises that everything she writes is true . . . or at least as true as it needs to be.

Dear Dumb Diary,

We've entered that part of the school year where you begin to wonder if maybe even the teachers are beginning to lose interest in education. We study something — like igneous rocks, or spit molecules, or one of those countries that looks like where they are going to build a country one day — we glue-stick a bunch of things about it to a piece of poster board, they get hung up in the hallway, and then we never talk about them again.

So toward the end of the year, just to keep things interesting. the school has lots of events like an Art Show, a Talent Show, and Bingo Night, which features a game that was developed long ago so that we'd have something to do until fun was invented.

If I ever become a teacher, I'm going to jazz it up a bit. Maybe I'll glue-stick the actual students up in the hallway, and when you walk up to one, he'll have to tell you what he knows about spit molecules or whatever.

Also, I'm going to make it so that if a kid bothers me, I can legally shoot her out of a cannon. I really may have psychic powers, because I think I've read the mind of teacher who was thinking that exact thing one time when Mike Pinsetti got almost all of a crayon stuck in his ear.

Signed,

Book Review: Dear Dumb Diary

Unless you've been living in a cave, most of you avid readers have probably heard of the Dear Dumb Diary series by Jim Benton. (I mean, we've only written about it on Ink Splot, like a zillion times!) Recently I crawled OUT of MY cave to discover this series! At first I thought, “Oh cool, another cute middle school series” but after reading it — WOW — these books have some bite! And I am hooked.

Jamie Kelly is your average middle-schooler with an average (but evil) best friend, Isabella, and an average (but sickeningly beautiful) nemesis, Angeline. Okay, maybe I'm being dramatic, but Jamie is dramatic . . . and did I mention hilarious?

In the Dear Dumb Diary books (there are 8) Jamie warns us not to read her diary in disclaimers such as, "Only a super gross person reads another person's diary." And, "If you are Angeline, I did NOT give you permission, so stop it." Each book is like a mini-journal which follows something going on at the time in Jamie's life.

Like right now, I just finished Book 4: Never Do Anything Ever in which Jamie starts collecting money for an online charity to channel her “inner beautiosity.” Which is basically because Angeline has been collecting money for charities and Jamie wants to outdo her (and attract the attention of her super-cute crush, Hudson). It backfires, thanks to Jamie's aforementioned friend Isabella — but I can't reveal exactly how things go wrong! You'll just have to read it for yourself!

Besides an overall entertaining story, each of the little daily occurrences and descriptions are wickedly funny. For instance, Jamie is paired with a bunch of misfits on her team in gym class, and she refers to one guy as “That Ugly Guy Whose Name I Forget” . . . or as she calls him for short, “TUGWNIF.” You feel like you are reading something slightly naughty or mean . . . but then you remember this is someone's "diary" and you're not supposed to be reading it . . . and somehow it's okay! It's hard to describe, so I can only recommend you read the series!

And if you've already read any Dear Dumb Diary books, give me a shout! What are your favorite books of the series? Let me know which ones I should check out next!

— Ratha, STACKS Writer

Book Review: Dear Dumb Diary Book #8

Oh, WOW.

I mean, I knew there was a series called Dear Dumb Diary. And I knew it was supposed to be funny and witty and relatable. But I finally picked it up the other day and dove in, and was I unprepared for just how hilarious and engrossing and smart it actually was!

Author SPLOTlight: Jim Benton

Sometimes I do things a little backwards. Which is why when I saw this amazing video interview with Jim Benton . . . I decided he was my new absolute favorite author without ever having read anything he wrote.

Then, to prove myself right, I read the first three books in the Dear Dumb Diary series. And I was! Jamie Kelly is wonderfully snarky and hilarious. Jamie's diary is filled with all the mean things you only wish you had the guts to say about those blonde, zone-shampooing, stuck-up girls named Angeline. And I can't wait to see what happens next in Jamie's epic quest for popularity.

And for all of you who loved Jim and Jamie way before I did, check out this exclusive, new short story Jim brainstormed with his fans the last time he visited Scholastic headquarters:

I love it!

— Carly H., STACKS Staffer

Character Confidential: 3 Questions for Jamie Kelly

I'd love to meet Jamie Kelly, whose secret journal has been published as the Dear Dumb Diary series (just don't tell her that!). Jamie seems hilarious and I think we'd have a fun time together, so instead of asking her questions, I'd want to spend time actually hanging out. Plus, I already got a chance to ask Jamie a few questions in this online interview that we did with her a few years ago. (Wanna know which questions were mine? Too bad! I'll never tell . . .)

But in the spirit of "Character Confidential," I did come up with three requests to ask of Jamie if we could plan an itinerary for meeting up:

1. Please give me a make-over. (I'm dying to see how my hair would turn out!)

2. Let's go out dancing!

3. Rate me on your popularity-o-meter (hopefully, I wouldn't fall under Isabella's metric system of Dorkology).

What would YOU ask Jamie if you got the chance?

— Karen, STACKS Staffer