Dawn: Diary 2

California Diaries #7

by Ann M. Martin

Dawn finds herself confronting a host of changes in her life as she faces the difficulties of adolescence, family turmoil, and a breakup with her best friend, Sunny. Original.

Genres: Young Adult, Fiction, Middle Grade, Childrens, Contemporary, Diary, Juvenile

96 pages, Paperback

First published June 1, 1998

About the author

Ann Matthews Martin was born on August 12, 1955. She grew up in Princeton, New Jersey, with her parents and her younger sister, Jane. After graduating from Smith College, Ann became a teacher and then an editor of children's books. She's now a full-time writer.

Ann gets the ideas for her books from many different places. Some are based on personal experiences, while others are based on childhood memories and feelings. Many are written about contemporary problems or events. All of Ann's characters, even the members of the Baby-sitters Club, are made up. But many of her characters are based on real people. Sometimes Ann names her characters after people she knows, and other times she simply chooses names that she likes.

Ann has always enjoyed writing. Even before she was old enough to write, she would dictate stories to her mother to write down for her. Some of her favorite authors at that time were Lewis Carroll, P. L. Travers, Hugh Lofting, Astrid Lindgren, and Roald Dahl. They inspired her to become a writer herself.

Since ending the BSC series in 2000, Ann’s writing has concentrated on single novels, many of which are set in the 1960s.

After living in New York City for many years, Ann moved to the Hudson Valley in upstate New York where she now lives with her dog, Sadie, and her cats, Gussie, Willy and Woody. Her hobbies are reading, sewing, and needlework. Her favorite thing to do is to make clothes for children.

http://us.macmillan.com/author/annmma...

Reviews

[Avery Talks · Rating 3 out of 5]

I am the proud founder of the We Hate Dawn Club because this fictional teenager makes me real life angry every time she speaks....

[Kiana · Rating 3 out of 5]

Like Sunny, Diary Two, Dawn’s second installment feels like a bit of a step down from the rest of the series. Dawn and Sunny’s fight was always one of the least interesting elements of the California Diaries books, and it doesn’t help that this installment is narrated by Dawn, who I think is the less sympathetic party of the two. I stand by what I said in my review of Sunny, Diary Two about Dawn just being ignorant and selfish because she’s young, but her whininess still makes her problems seem ridiculous and childish in comparison to Sunny, Maggie, Amalia, and Ducky’s situations. Sunny’s mother is dying of cancer; Maggie has anxiety and anorexia; Amalia has a creepy abusive stalker ex-boyfriend; Ducky’s best friend is depressed and possibly suicidal; Dawn is mad that nobody pays attention to her and her father’s having a new baby with her stepmother.

For however frustrating Dawn is as a character, I still like Dawn, Diary Two; it has a short punchiness that makes it fun to read, even though it’s not exactly a fun novel, and there are some great underlying themes of life and death (Dawn’s baby sister is born as Sunny’s mom grows weaker and moves closer to death) and always having to leave something behind (whether that’s your California home when you go to the East Coast for the summer or accepting that your old friendships have changed and/or disappeared). But I think, of all the books in the California Diaries series, this one seems the least consequential.

3 stars.

[Leigh · Rating 2 out of 5]

Dawn is the most insufferable asshole in fiction. I hate her for how she treated Sunny in the last book and she's even worse now. Plus she really has no point or plot in this series except to make it a BSC spin off. Sunny has a dying mother, Maggie an eating disorder, Amalia a psycho ex boyfriend and Ducky is dealing with a suicidal friend and although never said out loud his own sexuality. Dawn well her stepmother is having a baby. That's it. Otherwise she just judges everyone else and acts superior to all of them. She pisses me off every time she says if mom was sick I'd be there all the time. Really? The mother you no longer want to live with? You ran across the country into butt into Sunny's life and didn't think of how it would hurt your mom did you Dawn? Also you have no idea what you would do if it was your mother. No one does until you are actually in that position. It's one thing to see an old family friend dying and another when it's the woman you gave you life and loved you unconditionally throughout that life. That's why Sunny is acting out. Her life, her world is spinning out of control, her mom is dying, her dad burying himself in work and the one person she thought she could trust and depend on is a selfish holier than thou asshole. Argh!! Seriously give Jill a few books at least she seems like a nice person. I gave it some points for the set up of Maggie's story, and the fact that the baby Elizabeth Grace AKA Gracie had the same name as Mrs. Winslow and her going to the nursery and holding the baby was one of the sweetest I've read in a while. But Dawn sucks. She's the literal worst especially in this series.

[Kathryn Beal · Rating 3 out of 5]

I hate to be uncharitable, but Dawn is so whiny and clueless. All the people around her have actual problems. Sunny's mom is dying of cancer, Maggie has an eating disorder, Amalia's ex is a crazy stalker, Ducky's best friend is suicidal, and Dawn is mad that no one is paying attention to her.

Ok, she comes from a broken home and her dad is having a baby with her stepmom, and that's not easy, but Dawn was the one who singled Jill out as being childish in the first book, but Dawn is taking on that role now. Funny how Jill made a cameo and drove that parallel home.

And, of course, they are all still children, so I feel like a jerk for making fun of a 13-year-old character... But this wasn't my favorite in the series.

[Jaclyn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Dawn deals with sadness/regret over her BFF break-up with Sunny. Considering how super dire some of the other diaries get (Maggie has anorexia, Sunny's mom is dying of cancer, and while I haven't gotten to them yet, apparently Amalia has a stalker ex and Ducky has a suicidal BFF), it's kinda nice to get a seriously sad story that ISN'T quite so dire. Friendship breakups happen, and they suck and are hard to deal with. So it's kinda nice seeing Dawn having to work through her feelings about that one here.

[Samyuktha Ell · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Dawn: Diary 02" feels like that raw, honest chat with your most complicated friend - where nothing earth-shatteringly tragic happens, but the everyday heartbreaks still hit hard.

What I appreciate about this diary is how it tackles friendship breakups without dialing up the drama to 'major crisis' mode.

So if you’re looking for a teen diary that skips the extreme crises but nails that aching, confusing feeling of a falling-out with your bestie, this is your jam. Not perfect, but perfectly imperfect.

[Stephanie · Rating 2 out of 5]

Mostly nothing happens. Dawn talks about how her relationships are all stalling...and that's pretty much it. (But for the one thing that DOES happen...lucky Carol had the baby before Dawn and Jeff left for Connecticut. Was everyone ok with letting your two kids leave before their sibling was born and not see them for two months? You'd think Dawn's dad or Jeff would try to insist on waiting to buy plane tickets until it happens.)

[Devon · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's interesting that Dawn is one of my least favorite characters in the BSC and then in her own series she...continues to be the worst? You'd think that a series that more closely focuses on her would make her at least a little less self-righteous, but she's even like that to her California friends, it seems like.

The whole storyline about the baby is OK, but in light of what her friends are going through, it doesn't seem like much of an issue in comparison.

[Samantha · Rating 3 out of 5]

This one wasn't nearly as good as Dawn's first diary. In fact, it was pretty blah. It's mostly her being broody about Sunny being a bad friend, and about Carol being on bed rest and then having the baby. Maybe her third diary is better? I certainly hope it will be anyway.

[Nora · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nothing much happened in this one; I expected her to go back and visit the Baby-Sitter's Club in this one, but she's just leaving for there when the book ends, and I think her next book happens after she is back! :(

[Patrick]

Why couldn't they just do California Diaries as a spin-off without Dawn's involvement? It would have still been a spin-off since the characters appeared several times before in the parent series. Dawn is the classic victim player. 0 stars!

[Christina]

Read my recap at A Year with the BSC via Stoneybrook Forever: www.livethemovies.com/bsc-blog/califo...

[Meg GlitteryOtters · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars

[Michaela · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5/5

[Ashley · Rating 5 out of 5]

Yes, it's annoying that this whole book is Dawn thinking she's better than Sunny, but the part where Sunny's mom holds Dawn's new baby sister? SOBBING.

[Emily · Rating 4 out of 5]

Dawn fights with Sunny because Sunny's not acting the way Dawn wants her to. That's basically the whole book. Dawn looks for new friends in Maggie and Amalia but they're not doing the job entirely. Carol has her baby. And Dawn goes to Stoneybrook for the summer.

[Tara · Rating 3 out of 5]

Dawn Diary Two, is about a teenage girl named Dawn who is having some problems with her best friend Sunny. Sunny's mom was diagnosed with cancer, and is being hospital treated. While Sunny is out hanging with her new friends, while Dawn is in the hospital sitting by Sunny's moms bedside. Dawn is also going through a tough time at home with her dad, and step mom. Her step mom is pregnant and about to give birth. Sunny is not so sure she wants the baby to come, but at the same time thinks it will be a good change for her father. For an all together rating I give this book 3 stars. It is worth reading.

[Amanda · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book was Okay But Dawn was getting on my nerves. My favorite characters are Ducky and Amelia.

I really do NOT like Dawn she is annoying. I can't exactly name all the stuff about her that is annoying it's just the whole way her charecter is written. Anyway I recommened this series.

[Julia]

yay!!!! i really want to read this book

[Laura · Rating 4 out of 5]

To be 13 again...no thanks! Dawn is struggling with new life, death, an old friend and leaving California for 9 weeks to be in Stoneybrook with the BSC. And her handwriting is easy to read :).

[Charlie · Rating 2 out of 5]

ugh dawn you are the WORST

[Brittany · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this whole series of books. (I'm a sucker for books written as diaries).