What do you think?
Rate this book
Dear Diary #1
The Party
Lizzie Miletti buys herself a diary on the first day of sixth grade. This novel, the first in a new series called Dear Diary, follows Lizzie's trials and tribulations through Halloween, when she hosts a disastrous slumber party. Lizzie wants to be part of the in crowd, and when glamorous Samantha makes friendly gestures, Lizzie thinks she's on her way. At the party, Lizzie alienates her best friend by favoring Samantha, who, it turns out, only wants to be around Lizzie's attractive older brother. Lizzie's problems are realistic without being too serious; her diary offers a light, good-hearted story that readers will enjoy. Ages 8-12.
Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc.
- GenresYoung Adult
136 pages, Paperback
First published August 1, 1989
3 people are currently reading
81 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
November 22, 2010
I was browsing the titles on this blog (http://cliqueypizza.wordpress.com/200...) and when I saw this cover I remembered this series! Not really what it was about but more than I had read it and at least a few of the others. You can see the geeky girl in the turtleneck at the school dance longing to be like the popular blonde girl, for whom apparently a giant sweatshirt and leggings are the height of fashion. Although now to me it looks sort of creepy the way they are gazing at one another...
November 5, 2022
The Party (Dear Diary) 1
It’s Lizzie Miletti's first day of starting the 6th grade. After making it out of a chaotic household which includes 5 other siblings and a Dad who works for a food company and likes to use his kids as test subjects,
Sam decides to walk to school. This year it’s all about image, so Sam decides to walk to school. Unfortunately, her best friend Nancy doesn’t give a damn about image and is still riding her bike. Liz is already starting to feel like she’s outgrowing Nancy.
They stop at a store to get Nancy school supplies and that’s when she sees a beautiful, ivory, diary (thus this series begins).and it’s love at first sight.
At school, Lizzie has the typical middle school things on her mind: doing good in history this year, impressing the cool crowd (a girl named Samantha and her crowd, clothes).
After school she lies to Nancy that she has a piano lesson so she can go back to the store and buy the diary (that just so coincidently she has enough money for). Why was this diary not priced?
While cleaning up her room over the weekend, Liz decides her room (under the stairs) needs a total makeover, so she goes to the drug store to get some magazines for ideas. In the store she sees the popular girls (Samantha and Candance). She tries to speak to them, and they act like they don’t hear her. This makes her run out of the store practically in tears
She sees her brother (Adam) who gives her a message and then rides off. Sam comes out, comes over to her, and starts to have this bs conversation about how Lizzie is doing in school this year. Before she leaves, she asks Lizzie to have lunch with her sometimes and Lizzie totally has a girl crush on Sam because she all but orgasms on the spot.
She tells Nancy about what happened and immediately Nancy knows that somethings up. Lizzie wanting so bad to be accepted makes herself blind and things Sam’s starting to see her in a different light.
Nancy tries to tell her about the issue of spending time with her divorced Dad and how all of a sudden he’s turned into Mr. Social and how he’s doing TOO MUCH every time she visits. Lizzie doesn’t think this sounds like a problem. So Nancy gets upset and tells her to come with her next time and she agrees.
The next day Nancy is out of school, and Sam comes over and sits with Lizzie at lunch. Sam sees the magazine and disses the country cottage look Lizzie likes and shopping with her Grandma and offers to go shopping with her if she hits her Grandma up for the money. Lizzie tries to tell Nancy about having lunch with Sam, but Nancy gets pissed cause she hasn’t noticed her new hairstyle (perm). She smooths it over and then although she forgot says she’ll ask her parents about staying over Nancy’s Dad’s house.
Sam turns Lizzie’s bedroom into something akin to a 80’s MTV video and then convinces her to have a slumber party to show it off. Again she has a fight with Nancy who she accuses of being jealous of her “new best friend”. They make up quickly and she spends the weekend with Nancy and her Dad in Detroit. (He and Mr. McGill should be friends). Liz is starting to see what Nancy means and that she just wants her dad’s attention away from all these events. But she still secretly finds it all more exciting than her family’s social life.
Lizzie meanwhile is failing history but Nancy (whose great at it) agrees to help her with a paper and an extra credit project. She also encourages Nancy to talk to her dad. With Liz as a wing (woman) she convinces him to just stay home and chill the upcoming weekend (tho she does this by lying that she twisted her ankle). Liz passes the history exam with a C.
Lizzie’s mom makes her invite all the girls in her class (which means the nerdy ones). The party is a disaster. The cool girls want to dance and do makeovers. The other girls want to play games (video and hide and seek) and knit. Nancy gets pissed off and leaves and so does Ericka. As soon as they find out Adam (her brother) went to a concert and won’t be back the cool girl's dip. But the rest of the night with the remaining girls goes good (they end up playing Clue). But now Nancy is over her and doesn’t want to have anything to do with her.
She finally corners Nancy at a wildlife preserve (birdwatching) and they make up and agree to compromise.
They see Samantha taking out trash and it leaking all over her, and decide to think of a way to get even.
My Thought:
Diary nostalgia. I remember it well. I was a sucker for a colorful diary back in the day with locks and keys. I remember they sold them at the Hallmark store.
This book kind of gave me a warm feeling of nostalgia. It’s like I could have easily seen this as an old 80’s sitcom. It had some memorable details that I didn’t forget over the years. The waffles were one. I’m not a big waffle person BUT milkshake waffles sound AMAZING!
Another was the country cottage look Lizzie wanted with the milk jug lamps, I thought about a magazine that use to sell furniture that would have fit this theme (The Vermont Store?)
I remembered the store with the liquid lamp and thought about the old store with my last name (Spencer’s) that sold all kinds of neon stuff (telephones and lamps). Even Gram kind of reminded me of the grandmother in the Hugga Bunch movie.
B
ut when will we ever learn not just in books like this but in real life too that looks aren’t everything? I couldn’t be too hard on Sam because I had to learn OVER and OVER and OVER again the lesson about things (people) that look good on the outside that are temporary versus those who might not look as good but have VALUE! It’s so easy to fall into this trap of how good people look on the outside and their inside may be the most horrendous, ugliest thing you’ve ever seen in your LIFE! Just like Samantha tho, they’re probably excellent manipulators. So, you really have to be CAREFUL! And I can see how it would he flattering to have the attention of people like this who are cool and ooze charm.
I had to learn about myself I’m a terrible discerner so it’s led me to stick to myself and to the ones that have proven themselves to be in my life for the *right* reasons. I had a “Nancy” once. Only we weren’t always the best of friends. Just like Liz, I thought he was tall, awkward, and annoying and I put him off. But in the end a million years later, guess what? The people I thought were *cool* all faded out my life one by one and the one who remained TRUE!
I thought it was really nice to see that by the end of the book, Nancy and Liz were able to compromise and give each other’s *things* a try.
Speaking of that I was of two minds about Nancy’s dad. The introverted side of me is saying noooo that’s too much doing stuff. But the part of me that’s stuck in the house going out of my mind with this pandemic going on and in a boring city where things are being shut down on the regular is like man all that sounds like fun. I wish my life was twice was interesting as that. And I kinda loved that he went all out and invested himself FULLY in Nancy’s bird-watching. Because who doesn’t (as a lady) doesn’t want a man in their lives that invest in them like that?
I also know what it feels like to outgrow a friend because you change and feel like you’re on another level. It can be kind of tricky to keep the friendship. With the friend, I feel like I’ve outgrown I’ve learned to not cut them off completely but just give the relationship slight distance for my own personal sanity.
After this book, I didn’t have any other Dear Diary books, but I see 3 on Open Library so I’m interested to read the Dance. Another thought I had was about the nerd girls and how you can’t judge a book by its cover. I don’t know about the one that ate beets all the time or knitting at a slumber party or playing hide and seek. But I did feel for the one that wore the trench coat because she might have a condition where she gets cold all the time. I have this myself so I’m a little sympathy because A LOT of times I’ve had to go places with a oversized coat on and I just didn’t let it phase me what other people thought of this because I have a medical condition that causes it. As a matter of fact, my dad threw a dance and one of my cousins was made a teasing comment that she betted whatever I wore I’d wear a trench coat over it. And I said I sure will. I’m not all that easily phrased as you can see. But, because they just think she’s weird they probably aren’t even *trying* to find out why Diane wears the trench coat. And when I think about it in a fashion sense kind of way it might look HOT as hell depending on what the shorts look like. Diane might be a trend starter one day and a model.
Rating: 7 This had a couple of very good lessons. 1) Don’t be blind to what’s *REAL* and in front of you. 2) You just never know about a person until you get to know them.
Rating: 7 This had a couple of very good lessons. 1) Don’t be blind to what’s *REAL* and in front of you. 2) You just never know about a person until you get to know them.3) Ignorning people you like does the trick EVERY SINGLE TIME!
It’s Lizzie Miletti's first day of starting the 6th grade. After making it out of a chaotic household which includes 5 other siblings and a Dad who works for a food company and likes to use his kids as test subjects,
Sam decides to walk to school. This year it’s all about image, so Sam decides to walk to school. Unfortunately, her best friend Nancy doesn’t give a damn about image and is still riding her bike. Liz is already starting to feel like she’s outgrowing Nancy.
They stop at a store to get Nancy school supplies and that’s when she sees a beautiful, ivory, diary (thus this series begins).and it’s love at first sight.
At school, Lizzie has the typical middle school things on her mind: doing good in history this year, impressing the cool crowd (a girl named Samantha and her crowd, clothes).
After school she lies to Nancy that she has a piano lesson so she can go back to the store and buy the diary (that just so coincidently she has enough money for). Why was this diary not priced?
While cleaning up her room over the weekend, Liz decides her room (under the stairs) needs a total makeover, so she goes to the drug store to get some magazines for ideas. In the store she sees the popular girls (Samantha and Candance). She tries to speak to them, and they act like they don’t hear her. This makes her run out of the store practically in tears
She sees her brother (Adam) who gives her a message and then rides off. Sam comes out, comes over to her, and starts to have this bs conversation about how Lizzie is doing in school this year. Before she leaves, she asks Lizzie to have lunch with her sometimes and Lizzie totally has a girl crush on Sam because she all but orgasms on the spot.
She tells Nancy about what happened and immediately Nancy knows that somethings up. Lizzie wanting so bad to be accepted makes herself blind and things Sam’s starting to see her in a different light.
Nancy tries to tell her about the issue of spending time with her divorced Dad and how all of a sudden he’s turned into Mr. Social and how he’s doing TOO MUCH every time she visits. Lizzie doesn’t think this sounds like a problem. So Nancy gets upset and tells her to come with her next time and she agrees.
The next day Nancy is out of school, and Sam comes over and sits with Lizzie at lunch. Sam sees the magazine and disses the country cottage look Lizzie likes and shopping with her Grandma and offers to go shopping with her if she hits her Grandma up for the money. Lizzie tries to tell Nancy about having lunch with Sam, but Nancy gets pissed cause she hasn’t noticed her new hairstyle (perm). She smooths it over and then although she forgot says she’ll ask her parents about staying over Nancy’s Dad’s house.
Sam turns Lizzie’s bedroom into something akin to a 80’s MTV video and then convinces her to have a slumber party to show it off. Again she has a fight with Nancy who she accuses of being jealous of her “new best friend”. They make up quickly and she spends the weekend with Nancy and her Dad in Detroit. (He and Mr. McGill should be friends). Liz is starting to see what Nancy means and that she just wants her dad’s attention away from all these events. But she still secretly finds it all more exciting than her family’s social life.
Lizzie meanwhile is failing history but Nancy (whose great at it) agrees to help her with a paper and an extra credit project. She also encourages Nancy to talk to her dad. With Liz as a wing (woman) she convinces him to just stay home and chill the upcoming weekend (tho she does this by lying that she twisted her ankle). Liz passes the history exam with a C.
Lizzie’s mom makes her invite all the girls in her class (which means the nerdy ones). The party is a disaster. The cool girls want to dance and do makeovers. The other girls want to play games (video and hide and seek) and knit. Nancy gets pissed off and leaves and so does Ericka. As soon as they find out Adam (her brother) went to a concert and won’t be back the cool girl's dip. But the rest of the night with the remaining girls goes good (they end up playing Clue). But now Nancy is over her and doesn’t want to have anything to do with her.
She finally corners Nancy at a wildlife preserve (birdwatching) and they make up and agree to compromise.
They see Samantha taking out trash and it leaking all over her, and decide to think of a way to get even.
My Thought:
Diary nostalgia. I remember it well. I was a sucker for a colorful diary back in the day with locks and keys. I remember they sold them at the Hallmark store.
This book kind of gave me a warm feeling of nostalgia. It’s like I could have easily seen this as an old 80’s sitcom. It had some memorable details that I didn’t forget over the years. The waffles were one. I’m not a big waffle person BUT milkshake waffles sound AMAZING!
Another was the country cottage look Lizzie wanted with the milk jug lamps, I thought about a magazine that use to sell furniture that would have fit this theme (The Vermont Store?)
I remembered the store with the liquid lamp and thought about the old store with my last name (Spencer’s) that sold all kinds of neon stuff (telephones and lamps). Even Gram kind of reminded me of the grandmother in the Hugga Bunch movie.
B
ut when will we ever learn not just in books like this but in real life too that looks aren’t everything? I couldn’t be too hard on Sam because I had to learn OVER and OVER and OVER again the lesson about things (people) that look good on the outside that are temporary versus those who might not look as good but have VALUE! It’s so easy to fall into this trap of how good people look on the outside and their inside may be the most horrendous, ugliest thing you’ve ever seen in your LIFE! Just like Samantha tho, they’re probably excellent manipulators. So, you really have to be CAREFUL! And I can see how it would he flattering to have the attention of people like this who are cool and ooze charm.
I had to learn about myself I’m a terrible discerner so it’s led me to stick to myself and to the ones that have proven themselves to be in my life for the *right* reasons. I had a “Nancy” once. Only we weren’t always the best of friends. Just like Liz, I thought he was tall, awkward, and annoying and I put him off. But in the end a million years later, guess what? The people I thought were *cool* all faded out my life one by one and the one who remained TRUE!
I thought it was really nice to see that by the end of the book, Nancy and Liz were able to compromise and give each other’s *things* a try.
Speaking of that I was of two minds about Nancy’s dad. The introverted side of me is saying noooo that’s too much doing stuff. But the part of me that’s stuck in the house going out of my mind with this pandemic going on and in a boring city where things are being shut down on the regular is like man all that sounds like fun. I wish my life was twice was interesting as that. And I kinda loved that he went all out and invested himself FULLY in Nancy’s bird-watching. Because who doesn’t (as a lady) doesn’t want a man in their lives that invest in them like that?
I also know what it feels like to outgrow a friend because you change and feel like you’re on another level. It can be kind of tricky to keep the friendship. With the friend, I feel like I’ve outgrown I’ve learned to not cut them off completely but just give the relationship slight distance for my own personal sanity.
After this book, I didn’t have any other Dear Diary books, but I see 3 on Open Library so I’m interested to read the Dance. Another thought I had was about the nerd girls and how you can’t judge a book by its cover. I don’t know about the one that ate beets all the time or knitting at a slumber party or playing hide and seek. But I did feel for the one that wore the trench coat because she might have a condition where she gets cold all the time. I have this myself so I’m a little sympathy because A LOT of times I’ve had to go places with a oversized coat on and I just didn’t let it phase me what other people thought of this because I have a medical condition that causes it. As a matter of fact, my dad threw a dance and one of my cousins was made a teasing comment that she betted whatever I wore I’d wear a trench coat over it. And I said I sure will. I’m not all that easily phrased as you can see. But, because they just think she’s weird they probably aren’t even *trying* to find out why Diane wears the trench coat. And when I think about it in a fashion sense kind of way it might look HOT as hell depending on what the shorts look like. Diane might be a trend starter one day and a model.
Rating: 7 This had a couple of very good lessons. 1) Don’t be blind to what’s *REAL* and in front of you. 2) You just never know about a person until you get to know them.
Rating: 7 This had a couple of very good lessons. 1) Don’t be blind to what’s *REAL* and in front of you. 2) You just never know about a person until you get to know them.3) Ignorning people you like does the trick EVERY SINGLE TIME!
January 10, 2020
Not a lot really happens in this book, it’s just Lizzie writing journal entries into a diary whingeing about her friends, family and the ‘cool’ kids.
February 25, 2012
Dear Diary: The Party was a cute story about the desperation to be popular at 11 years old. While it is clearly meant for a younger, less mature audience, I enjoyed it, if only for the fact that I hadn't read that kind of book in years.
Overall, the writing was fair, not good but not terrible, and the characters were nothing special. In fact, I'll probably forget their names after I finish this review. It's not a book I would read again unless it's years in the future and I'm reading to my kids, but it brought back some memories if nothing else.
Overall, the writing was fair, not good but not terrible, and the characters were nothing special. In fact, I'll probably forget their names after I finish this review. It's not a book I would read again unless it's years in the future and I'm reading to my kids, but it brought back some memories if nothing else.
July 6, 2013
funny I use write my diary just like these books they have the pages in dates each chapter is dates. It was when I was 12 years old when I read this.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews