The Dirt Diary by Anna Staniszewski

I purchased this enjoyable realistic fiction book from a scholastic book fair. Rachel Lee's parents are about to divorce, and Rachel will not let that happen. So she stole $287.22 from her college fund to buy a plane ticket to go see her dad, and convince him to come back. In order to repay the money, she has to give up her weekends to help in her mom's house cleaning business. But Rachel ends up cleaning for the most popular kids in school, including Briana Riley, who bullies Rachel whenever she gets the chance. The money from that still is not enough, so when an opportunity comes up for serious cash, Rachel can't help but say yes. The secrets that she uncovers are more than she bargained for. They cause way more trouble than she originally thought.

The Dirt Diary has a lot of elements to it, such as family, bullying, honesty, and friendship. A lot of people can relate to her case. Rachel is a great character, and she developed a lot in the story, and we get to see a lot of different sides of her. I think I liked Evan the best. He is so sweet and nothing like his sister. I liked that often right after something bad happens, he is pretty much who she runs into next, and of course, embarrasses herself.

It was funny to hear her goofy swear words, like "gas cap!" and "holy fried onion rings!" Rachel has a habit of getting into bad situations, and they are almost always funny. It is completely original, and the perfect amount of everything. It can be hard to coordinate a book to work together, but the author pulled it off, and everything flows together nicely.

I really recommend this book. I am looking forward to reading the second and third books in the series.



Title: The Dirt Diary #1
Author:  Anna Staniszewski
Publisher: Sourcebooks Jabberwocky
Pages: 246 pages
Series: Yes, Book 1
Rating: 5 Stars
Goodreads