Throughout the Dork Diaries series, Nikki has given many different kinds of gifts to her friends and family, including budget-saving handmade items, last-minute convenience presents, cherished items that are hard to share, and gifts that might also benefit her—like a dinner gift certificate for two. How do you decide what presents to give your friends and family? What’s the best gift you’ve ever given? The worst?

Nikki Maxwell is torn between two incredible parties in this second installment of the #1 New York Times bestselling Dork Diaries series! Nikki admits that her major crush on Brandon has caused RCS (Roller Coaster Syndrome). What does this mean? Have you ever had this feeling when you are around someone you have a crush on? Does it impact your ability to talk to him or her? Having nothing better to do on the night of the dance, Nikki reluctantly agrees to serve on the dance clean-up comitee with her best friends, Chloe and Zoey, as well as help out a ballet class Halloween party for her little sister, Brianna.Language can be very powerful. Nikki and her friends decide to embrace the label “dork” when naming their band “Dorkalicious.” What happens when someone claims what might be considered a negative label, like “dork,” with pride? Nikki’s mom always wanted to be a ballerina, so she signed up both her daughters for lessons, even though neither of them wanted to attend ballet classes. Have your parents ever forced you to do something you didn’t want to do? How did you respond? During their New Year’s Eve sleepover, the three girls play Truth or Dare. Which do you think takes more courage, sharing some information or doing some deed? Why? Why do you think this game remains popular over time?

Several times when Nikki is writing about a conversation from earlier in the day, she includes her own very honest and blunt reply, then explains, “But I just say it inside my head, so no one really hears it except me.” When is it good to self-censor? When would it be better to speak up? How can we learn to tell the difference? This discussion guide is designed to help your students engage with the text through discussion in small or large groups. The discussion questions can also be used as writing prompts for independent work. The nature of the questions themselves, as well as the variety of suggested response formats and opportunities for interaction with peers, will help students develop proficiency in many of the College and Career Readiness (CCR) anchor standards for Reading, Writing, Speaking and Listening, and Language. Nikki feels like she can’t ask Brandon what his hug means because doing so would betray her interest, so she feigns nonchalance and overanalyzes inside. Have you ever wanted to know something but been embarrassed or afraid even to admit you wanted to know? What, if anything, did you do to try to find out the answer to your question? Nikki worries a lot about being seen doing things like dancing at Queasy Cheesy or getting dropped off in the roach van. Why can a situation be okay when nobody sees, but humiliating if observed? Why do we care? Nikki imagines what she could do with a love potion...with unfortunate side effects. Meanwhile, Brianna tries to scare Nikki with her toy spider until it's revealed that a real spider is in Nikki's room.

Nikki loves Lady and the Tramp and easily imagines herself in the classic romantic spaghetti dinner scene. What’s your favorite movie from childhood? How could you imagine yourself in a scene? Describe the setting and any friends you would cast beside you. Would you tweak anything from the original script, or would it play out pretty much the same in your life? Throughout the book, Nikki continually talks about how she is so unpopular, ranking herself lower on the WCD CCP Popularity Index Chart than the school janitor, school mascot, and head lunch lady. In fact, she calls her own diary the “Dork Diary,” and often refers to herself as a dork throughout the book. However, Nikki has several best friends and a popular boy has a crush on her. How do you define popularity? Who determines who is popular at your school? Do you think how you view yourself impacts how others view you? Sometimes family or close friends develop their own special ways of communicating through shared gestures and vocabulary, secret handshakes, and other signals. For Nikki, Chloe, and Zoey, the language of friendship already includes jazz hands, the stinkeye, and a lot of acronyms like CCPS (Cute, Cool, and Popular), 4Fs (Friends, Fun, Fashion, and Flirting), and GGG-ing (Giggling, Gossiping, and Glossing). Some of them come from magazines or popular culture, and some seem to be the girls’ own inventions. What are some of your favorite words, phrases, gestures, and inside jokes you share with your family or friends? In response to her little sister’s fairy phobia and constant pleas for a bathroom monitor in the middle of the night, Nikki comes up with a plan to banish the imaginary tooth fairy in Brianna’s room for good using a homemade repellent made with water, vinegar, tuna fish oil, sardine oil, and garlic. What’s the most unusual thing you have ever done to get your brother or sister to stop bothering you?

In Nikki’s own words, she was trying to “do it ALL” on Halloween, including paint faces at the ballet class Halloween party, attend the Halloween dance with Chloe and Zoey dressed as a bag of trash, and attend the Halloween dance as Brandon’s date, dressed as Shakespeare’s Juliet. Have you ever found yourself in a situation where you took on too much at one time? Were you successful? How would you do it differently if you had to do it over again? Tired of Brianna waking her up in the middle of the night to help her go to the bathroom in fear of the tooth fairy being in there, Nikki decides to make her own fairy repellent so she can keep the tooth fairy away. She sprays Brianna's whole room. When their parents see this, Nikki says there was a really bad pest, assuming a bug, leaving them none the wiser. Guide was written by Michele Gorman, author of Getting Graphic! Comics for Kids and Getting Graphic! Using Graphic Novels to Promote Literacy with Preteens and Teens.Nikki feels that her bedroom should be her own private space. At school, she, Chloe, and Zoey use the janitor’s closet for their meetings. Do you have your own bedroom or another special space that feels like it is all your own? If so, who makes up the rules for this special place? If you could have complete dominion over your space, what would be your top three rules? Chloe goes Dumpster diving in search of Nikki’s diary. You’ve probably heard the saying that one man’s trash is another man’s treasure. If you cleaned out your old “junk,” unwanted gifts, and outgrown clothes to sell or donate, what kinds of things would you get rid of? What would you be delighted to spot at a garage sale or discarded at the side of the road? Several times in this book, Nikki initially discounts her friends’ assistance and then is pleasantly surprised by the help and support they offer. For example, Nikki finally shares her problem with Chloe and Zoey and feels so relieved to have their help. When Nikki finally pays attention to the gift Brandon is trying to give her, it turns out to be really sweet and helpful. Have you ever discounted a friend's assistance at first and later accepted it? What happened? How did you feel?

Do you think the “thank you for the oatmeal” note Nikki’s mom leaves is sincere, or is she trying to let Nikki know that she is on to her deception but forgives her? Either way, Nikki is very relieved that she’s not in trouble. Have you had a close call where you thought you were busted but ended up being just fine? What happened? Why do you think Nikki writes, “Make sure you write in your diary every single day” even if you lose the original diary and have to write in a spare notebook? Why is keeping a diary important?

While Nikki is working as an LSA during 5th hour, she gets a call from her parents saying she has to go to a funeral for Wilbur Roach, the former president of the company Nikki's dad works for. At the funeral, Nikki gets an unexpected case of the hiccups. Nikki and her friends help in the library and read a lot. Throughout the Dork Diaries series, they refer to various trends in literature, film, and popular culture, like vampires, werewolves, and zombies. What is your favorite current trend? Least favorite? Why? In the book, there is a list of positions on Nikki’s school newspaper available for new students. What role would you want on a school newspaper? Why? What role would you be least comfortable serving in, and why? Fountas & Pinnell™ W These books have been officially leveled by using the F&P Text Level Gradient™ Leveling System Nikki asks her best friends for advice. Their classmates write Miss Know-It-All for advice. Who can you ask for advice? Do you ask different people in different situations, or do you have one go-to person for most any problem? Does anybody come to you for advice? Why or why not?