Okay, So Maybe I Do Have Superpowers

Dear Dumb Diary #11

by Jim Benton

Bestselling author Jamie Kelly has been keeping diaries for years . . . and each one just gets funnier! But she has no idea that anyone is reading them. So please, please, please don't tell her.

Something strange is happening at Mackerel Middle School. Even stranger than Jamie and Isabella becoming friends with Angeline. (Which is still really, really strange.) Jamie can suddenly and inexplicably understand the weirdest and most mysterious creatures around: Boys.

And there's only one logical explanation --- superpowers.

Genres: Childrens, Middle Grade, Humor, Fiction, Contemporary, Realistic Fiction, Diary

160 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2011

About the author

Benton began his career in a custom design t-shirt shop where he started designing his own characters. At the same time, Jim did illustrations and artwork for magazines and newspapers. People magazine named him "the most visible cartoonist in America" .

Benton also created greeting cards and worked in the magazine and publishing industry. In 1998, his SpyDogs characters became an animated series, The Secret Files of the Spy Dogs, that aired on Fox Kids. Licensing his own creations brought them widespread attention on products, such as It's Happy Bunny, The Misters, Just Jimmy and more.

Benton currently lives in Michigan, where he operates out of his own studio.

Reviews

[K.T. ♡ · Rating 4 out of 5]

Haha how I love this series! :D It completely reminds me of my childhood reading and laughing like a maniac! Those were the days...

[Janette]

I love these books. In fact, I love these books so much that I openly read this book on the airplane without explaining to the surrounding passengers that A) I bought this book for my daughter or B) that as an author I'm required to read these sorts of books to keep current with the market.

I just read it and laughed. If I ever meet Jim Benton at some author event, I'm totally going to be a stalker fan girl and make him say witty things to me. I know he will appreciate that sort of thing.

[Heenly Pelayo · Rating 5 out of 5]

This dear dumb diary book is amazing just like all he others. I love how the author puts himself into a (practically) teenage girl character. This book is entertaining for probably 4th-6th graders. I recommend this book for anyone. You guys will enjoy this book so much that you will want to read the entire series. In his dairy Jamie believes that she has powers because Isabella told her but at the end she realizes that what she thought was her power was pretty much a coincidence. Anyways you should read this book, I'm sure you'll love it as much as I did!

[Syd · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book! This series is a great series. My most favorite part is where Isabella thinks that Jamie has boy powers because she got bitten by a 2 year old.

[Rummana · Rating 5 out of 5]

In this book, Jamie and Isabella believes that Jamie has superpowers. It all started out when Isabella and Jamie went to Angeline's house. Angeline was babysitting Fat Ricky. When the little boy saw the two visitors, he leaped and bit Jamie on the arm. Later on, Isabella was teasing Jamie about how she could never kick her in the face. Then Jamie did it. She kicked Isabella in the face. Isabella was surprised and believed that Jamie had boy superpowers and that was how she managed to kick her in the face.
The school fair was coming up and Isabella placed a bet that whoever loses in the "knocking down the pins" game would have to kiss the most disgusting boy in the school, Mike Pinsettie. Jamie didn't want to do this bet because she wasnt that good at the ball toss game. The last time that she played a fair game, she hit the worker in the nose, the arm, and somewhere else with darts. Think that this is hilarious, then read the actual book.

Jim Benton worked his magic on this book. Each page made me laugh and it was very interesting. You can't get much more fun than this. It showed helping, friendship, and second thoughts about people. It sowed how you can misjudge people.

I gave this book five stars because it was really entertaining and i had a nice time reading it. It was a good book to read. It had all the parts that you want. It was really funny. I enjoyed this book and if you decide to read it, i hope you enjoy it too.

[max theodore]

i should stop reading these and do the actual tasks i need to do like an adult with rent to pay but did you know that the superpower in this book is that jamie thnks she's been bitten by a radioactive boy and can now understand boys for real? and then she says this?


and then of course it ends with her learning a lesson about how boys and girls don't have to like and hate sports respectively and you can be girly and still enjoy football or blah blah blah blah but is anyone else seeing this? the first of these books came out ten years before i was in middle school. if jamie kelly is ten years older than me she's in her thirties and i hope she's married to angeline

[Rachel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Even though Jamie's logic is endlessly flawed, it is also endlessly funny. In which Jamie is bitten by a child and believes she now has boy powers.

...And I now know that the secret to surviving in a monster movie is to look not appetizing *on purpose*.

[Nana · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 stars

[Alexandra · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good interpersonal relationship learning in this one.

[Tim Robinson · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was the first Dear Dumb Diary book I read, which is unfortunate because I nearly gave up on the entire series. Luckily, I tried again, and every other book is vastly superior.

[Ryan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Recently, Jamie was bitten by a three-year old toddler boy. Now she suddenly made some good explanations about guys. Isabella believes being bitten has granted Jamie superpowers, specifically ones to read the male mind. Now Isabella puts a bet that Jamie can win the bottle toss at the Fun Fair with her new improved minds, but if she loses, she'll have to kiss Mike Pinsetti! Jamie has to learn her new powers quick or else it's kissing time!

I feel like this book's topic on superpowers is probably due to the height of superhero craze going on in the early 2010s. Jamie goes on many practices to comprehend the mystery that is a preteen boy's head. And her explanations for everything they do is as zany as they sound, and yet reasonable at the same time. The story also has some nice light touches on gender norms and some early characters making small returns here. So while Jamie doesn't actually have the superpowers that she think she got, she does have other gifts that makes her unique and that's a nice moral in learning about what makes you special.

[Darla · Rating 4 out of 5]

Does Jamie have superpowers after getting bitten by Fat Ricky? She is pretty sure her new superpower is understanding boys. Maybe she could even get paid to answer questions from other girls about the strange actions of the boys around them. Meanwhile there is a jar full of ants under her bed waiting to be a visual aid for a science report and Jamie is practicing her ring toss technique for the Fun Fair.
The illustrations are hilarious as usual. My favorite is a page where she imagines ways that superheroes could make money. What would Iron Man do? Iron shirts, of course. Duh!

[Brianda Barrera · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’m an adult and I fully enjoy this series. I started this series when I was in the target demographic, but continue to read the new books because they’re still funny, regardless of age.

[Erin · Rating 5 out of 5]

I haven’t read the normal book version yet but I’m extremely excited

[Remy · Rating 4 out of 5]

ball is life.

[A Person · Rating 5 out of 5]

Pretty good

The pictures are great, the plot could use some complicatedness,
But other than that, it’s pretty good. I would recommend it

[Zehra]

final haftası öncesi favori çocukluk kitaplarımla serotonin depolamaca <3

[emma ⁠☆｡⁠*⁠♡ · Rating 5 out of 5]

these books are so gay I love them

[brubs · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.5⭐️

[Dippit! with E.S.Jennette · Rating 3 out of 5]

I thought that it was super cute. It is about a girl who likes to think she has superpowers and well she does and it helps her get through what she is going through in middle school.

[Helen · Rating 3 out of 5]

In this book, Jamie wonders of she got a superpower from a bite. What do you think?

[Heather Plemons · Rating 4 out of 5]

Super cute,

[Jocelyn · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very clever writing, I loved these books when I was young and they still hold up! I found myself laughing out loud at the jokes and illustrations.

Also a great message without being too preachy.

10/10 would recommend!

[Edward Creter · Rating 4 out of 5]

Jamie Kelly is the abti heroine for our times...and we do mean ANT-i-heroine. Let me explain: Jamie thinks she has powers beyond imagination. All because baby Ricky had her arm for a snack and subsequently she had just kicked bff Isabella in the schnoz. (Isabella did ask. Duh!) And now she has insights into human boy nature. Like superhero Lion-O of the ThunderCats, she has been given SIGHT BEYOND SIGHT! Yeah, right, and guess that makes Izzy Pantro and Angeline a cheat, urrp, sorry, CheeTarah! Sure. And now Jamie wants to up the ANTe by raising an ant farm for a science project. What a juvenile delinquANT! And she still thinks less of OUR UNDERDOG Stinker and his brood. What a MiscreANT! Then she has to smooch lovable dummy kid Mike Pinsetti. Whata ...romANTic! More Angeline (yaaay!) and less Stinker (awww!!!) but Jamie remains the ANTithesis of all things ANT Farm. How ANTiquated can you get!

[Lucy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Isabella and I (Jamie Kelly) were watching one of those super-hero movies and I commented on how you don't have to KICK a person's face - if somebody just STEPPED on your face a couple times, you'd go into total meltdown. Isabella said it wasn't such a big deal, and that I could kick her in the face to prove it, so I did. Then days later, I went over to Angeline, and the baby she was babysitting bit me! Now I'm starting to think like how boys would think and maybe, just maybe, I have superpowers of my own. But who knows?
I picked this book up because I thought it would be interesting to read, and I didn't read the 11 book yet.
I finished this book because it was funny how Jamie thought she had superpowers, and if she would keep thinking that.
I would recommend this book to my friend Vanessa, she likes reading Dear Dumb Diary and she's the reason why I started reading these books.

[Brooklyn · Rating 4 out of 5]

The reason i gave this book four stars is not because its not good but because i am not really into the things they have in here. like super hero's and how she thinks she is one cause she got bit by her baby brother. so i already know that that couldn't really happen and that was the main plot of the story and i like books to be mysterious when i read them so this is more for a kid that ether likes those kids of books or a littler kid that thinks getting bit by a boy can turn you into a superhero. i think this book was mostly about what i said up there that a g thinks that she is a girl thinks she is a superhero cause she got bit and her friend is jealous and try's to get the strongest person in school to bit her so she will get his/her strength. And that is what this book is about.

[Madison · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is one of the BEST Jim Benton books so far. At least that's what I think. In this one Jamie convinces herself that she has super powers. Super powers of sensing what boys think and Jamie thinks that she is actually turning into a boy. Kicking someone in the face is rather boyish, don't you think. And, the winter festival is coming to Jamie's middle school and boys and girls are asking each other to "hang out". So now, Jamie can put her boyish senses to good use. Or she could completely and totally fail and walk away in humiliation. Like I said, the best one yet. You should read it to confirm your agreement. (or unlikley disagreement).

[Karen Huang · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was very funny and very accurate to what would happen in real life. This book explains how Jamie, the main character, got bit by a baby that her friend was baby sitting. She then gets a challenge from her friend that if she loses at playing bottle throw, she has to kiss a guy. She then brings up hoe she has a superpower but her friend does not cancel the challenge and she herself tries to get bitten by a guy too. At the end, the two girls figure out the the superpowers were fake. Her daily entries in her diary are really funny, and the illustrations can help you picture things better and can show you more funny jokes. I love this series and I hope I can read the whole series.

[Jay · Rating 3 out of 5]

These books are so funny, especially because they're not too far from reality. I think my favorite part is how Jamie really thinks she understands everything that's going on, yet the reader can see right through that and know that she's in error. It takes a pretty good writer to pull that off. (And, if you're looking for a learning moment for your child, you can hope reading this will help a reader realize that everyone can misunderstand situations... though the target audience is actually unlikely to generalize it as far as to themselves.)

[Julia Concepcion · Rating 4 out of 5]

The books get better as they progress but I think this is the last one I plan to read in the series. Year Two sounds like a new and interesting perspective but I don't think I will get there. A few years ago, I tried reading this series for the first time and I really liked it but I only reached to #5 and stopped. Then last month, I tried again and got all the way up to #11 but I'm starting to remember why I stopped the first time. I recommend it to younger girls who don't have much standard for books yet and are trying to figure out what it is.