Review: Needs a Bit of Work
Rating: 2 out of 5
Date: 12 7, 2013
I loved the blurb for this book.  It sounded like a really interesting book.  However, the dialogue and world building lets it down.I think the blurb does an excellent job of telling what the story is about, so I won't reiterate.I think the tweens will like this cover.  It's very appealing with the bright colors, and I like the way it's made to look like a journal as well.The world building started out being believable, but then it just got a bit ridiculous.  Harriet goes to a birthday party of a rich classmate Melanie.  Melanie is holding a talent competition at her house.  When Melanie's friends can't do the routine with her, Harriet and her friends decide to do the talent show with Melanie.  Soon after, Melanie and the girls decide they want to be in a band, so they tell Melanie's parents.  Melanie's parents think it's a good idea, so Melanie's dad gets on the phone to famous songwriter to write the girls a song.  That's the part I don't find very believable.  I just simply don't think it's that easy.  Also, the girls wear hotpants at a 9 year old's birthday party where they are performing their songs.  Personally, I wouldn't let my little girl wear those kind of clothes, nor would I allow girls dressed like that at my child's birthday party.  There's also a problem with the dialogue which I'll get to later.The pacing was a bit slow throughout this book.  It wasn't painfully slow, but it was slow nonetheless.  I kept hoping it'd pick up, but it just never did.  However, it may still appeal to the age group it was written for.The plot was predictable, but this story was meant for tweens.  The plot just deals with normal girl things such as popularity in school, crushes, embarrassment, friends, etc.  There's no big plot twist, but with a book aimed at tweens, it doesn't need one.I did like the characters and thought they were written very well.  Harriet was definitely my favorite character.  I wish cringing and laughing with her throughout this book.  At first, I wasn't too keen on Melanie, but she started to grow on me, and I ended up liking her.  Alexa and Olivia are also very likable, and I love what good friends they are to Harriet.  Oliver is also a sweet boy although he does act like most 12 year old boys act when it comes to girls.I think American children will possibly struggle with the dialogue.  There are a lot of words and phrases that aren't used in the United States.  That's another thing, Harriet is British, but has lived in the United States for 7 years.  However, she sounds more British than American.  Being as her whole school life has been in America, surely she'd use more American phrases and not really use British ones.  Also, even the actual Americans in the story used British wording and phrases from time to time.  It was confusing because it was like the story was taking place somewhere in the United Kingdom and not the United States.  Luckily, I spent six years of my life living in England or else I wouldn't have known what some of the words and phrases meant.  Besides those problems, the dialogue does suit a tween book for the most part.Overall, Diary of a Dancing Drama Queen needs some work on the world building and dialogue.  American children may struggle to understand this book.  The one redeeming quality of this book is the characters.I'd possibly recommend this book to British children aged between 10 and 13 who are looking for a book which has characters they can relate to.(I received this book in ebook format for free from a tour host in exchange for a fair and honest review.  This review can also be found on my blog).