Rachel Renée Russell is an American author of the humorous children’s book series, Dork Diaries.
Life
Rachel Renée Russell was born and raised in Saint Joseph, Michigan a small city on the shore of Lake Michigan, and currently resides in northern Virginia. She is the oldest child and has two younger twin brothers and two younger sisters. She wrote her first unofficial book in 6th grade as a birthday present for her twin brothers.[1]
In addition to writing children’s books, Russell is an attorney.
Work
Russell's drawing of herself
Russell's Dork Diaries series dramatically chronicles the daily life of Nikki Maxwell as she struggles to both fit in and survive middle school. It is written in a diary format and includes doodles, drawings and comic strips.
According to the author’s website, the Dork Diaries books are based on Russell’s experiences in middle school, as well as those of her two daughters, Erin and Nikki. Her older daughter, Erin, helps with writing and her younger daughter, Nikki, helps with illustrations.[2]
Currently, there are over 50 million copies of the Dork Diaries books in print in the United States. Publishing rights have been sold in 32 countries with translation into 28 different languages.
Bibliography
- Dork Diaries: Tales From a Not-So-Fabulous Life was released on June 2, 2009. It has spent 42 weeks on the New York Times Bestsellers list and 7 weeks on the USA Today Best Sellers list. The book was also awarded the 2010 Children’s Choice Book of the Year Award for the 5th/6th grade division. On February 10, 2011, it was nominated as Book of the Year by the Nickelodeon Kid's Choice Awards.
- Dork Diaries: Tales From a Not-So-Popular Party Girl was released on June 8, 2010. It has spent 42 weeks on the New York Times Bestsellers list and 12 weeks on the USA Today Best Sellers list.
- Dork Diaries: Tales From a Not-So-Talented Pop Star was released on June 7, 2011. It has spent 12 weeks on the New York Times Bestsellers list. and 13 weeks on the USA Today Best Sellers list.
- Dork Diaries: How To Dork Your Diary was released in October 11, 2011.
- Dork Diaries: Tales From A Not-So-Graceful Ice Princess was released in June 2012.
- Dork Diaries: Tales From A Not-So-Smart Miss Know-It-All was released in October 2012.
- Dork Diaries: Tales From a Not-So-Happy Heartbreaker was released June 4,2013.
- Dork Diaries: Tales from a Not-So-Glam TV Star was released in June 3, 2014.
As of March 17, 2013, the Dork Diaries series has spent 71 weeks on the New York Times Bestsellers list in the Children’s Series category.
Personal Life
Russell has two daughters, called Nikki and Erin. Her daughter help her with the books. She is also an attorney, but she prefers writing because "You can't wear bunny slippers and pajamas in court." She was once married, but divorced in April 2009. Her family is helping her to write her successful series Dork diaries.
One of her daughters, Nikki Russel. Is helping her with illustrations, and her eldest daughter Erin, is helping her with her with writing. Erin is writing comic, while Rachel is writing the plot
Trivia
- Rachel has two dogs, a minature poodle and a Yorkshire Terrier.
- Rachel has two daughters. Erin, her oldest child, is 28 and Nikki, her youngest child, is 26. They are both married.
- The events of Dork Diaries are based on Rachel's experiences when she was in middle school.