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Jim Benton

Let's Pretend This Never Happened (Dear Dumb Diary, No. 1) Mass Market Paperback – July 1, 2004

by Jim Benton (Author)

391 ratings

Book 1 of 12: Dear Dumb Diary

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Read the hilarious, candid (& sometimes mean) diaries of Jamie Kelly, who promises that everything in her diary is true...or at least as true as it needs to be. In this book, Jamie contends with Angeline, the school's prettiest, most popular girl (who Jamie thinks is a goon!) and the impending visit of her troll-like little cousin. Will Jamie survive? Will she go mad? Will she send her mom's nasty casserole to starving children in Wheretheheckistan? You'll just have to read the first installment of Dear Dumb Diary to find out!

Reading age

8 - 11 years, from customers
Print length

1121 pages
Language

English
Grade level

4 - 7
Lexile measure

1040L
Dimensions

5.25 x 0.25 x 7.5 inches
Publisher

Scholastic
Publication date

July 1, 2004
ISBN-10

9780439629041
ISBN-13

978-0439629041
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Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Jim Benton is an award-winning author and artist. You may know some of the other things he’s made, like It’s Happy Bunny, Dear Dumb Diary, Franny K. Stein, Victor Shmud, and more. He’s created a TV series, written books, and produced a movie, and he always did everything his parents told him to do. Pretty much.

Jim lives in Michigan with his wife and kids and can be found online at jimbenton.com.

Product details

ASIN ‏ : ‎ 0439629047
Publisher ‏ : ‎ Scholastic; Hebrew edition (July 1, 2004)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Mass Market Paperback ‏ : ‎ 1121 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 9780439629041
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0439629041
Reading age ‏ : ‎ 8 - 11 years, from customers
Lexile measure ‏ : ‎ 1040L
Grade level ‏ : ‎ 4 - 7
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 3.04 ounces
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.25 x 0.25 x 7.5 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #187,579 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #2,170 in Children's School Issues
- #2,363 in Children's Books on Emotions & Feelings (Books)
- #4,028 in Children's Friendship Books

Customer Reviews:
391 ratings

About the author

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Jim Benton

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Jim is the author and illustrator of Dear Dumb Diary®, a New York Times Bestselling series which has sold nearly 10 million books, and is printed in more than a dozen languages. He also co-wrote and produced a made-for-tv musical based on the series.

He’s the creator of many licensed properties, including It’s Happy Bunny®, the licensing hit that has generated over ¾ of a billion dollars at retail. The It’s Happy Bunny books have been chosen three times by the American Librarians Association as their top picks for teen readers, and It’s Happy Bunny programs have taken top awards from the Licensing Industry Merchandising Association five times. Jim’s anti-drug program for middle school kids for The Partnership for a Drug-Free America has won three Addy awards and a Governor’s Award.

Jim’s series Franny K. Stein™, has sold over five million books, and is in more than 15 languages and Braille.

The National cartoonist Society (NCS) awarded Jim with two divisional Reuben awards.

The End (Almost), Benton’s first picture book, was recently awarded a NAPPA gold award (National Parenting Publication Award.)

Jim’s book Dog Butts and Love. And Stuff Like That. And Cats. was nominated for an Eisner Award and has a sequel titled Man, I Hate Cursive coming out this fall.

Other upcoming projects include a new young reader series, two more board books, and a new gift book.

To learn more about Jim, visit him at www.jimbenton.com

Customer reviews

5 star		80%
4 star		12%
3 star		3%
2 star		1%
1 star		3%

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Top reviews from the United States

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Bridget Emrich

Great read

Reviewed in the United States on July 13, 2018

Verified Purchase

Product was awesome and came super fast (thank you prime). I bought this book for my niece's 8th birthday as it was one of my favorite grade school books. All was well except the cover was bent a bit but I don't think she will mind. Awesome seller.

5 people found this helpful

Helpful

Book Lover

My 10 year old loves this series

Reviewed in the United States on September 23, 2012

Verified Purchase

Dear All,

I just wanted to write you and share my joy!
I have finally found a book series that my daughter (5th) loves to read: The Dear Dumb Diaries series.
I am so excited! I know that these are not the longer chapter books that the school would like for her to pick up and try, but...

Miracle: My daughter is reading on her own and loving it!!

Reading has been a struggle for my daughter for awhile. She was thankfully in Title I last year but it was still like pulling teeth to get her to pick up a book at home on her own. But now when I announce reading time she picks up one of these books and reads for long periods of time. Sometimes I even find her locking the bathroom door for privacy and uninterrupted reading time. She has even tried to read in bed after hours with a flash light! (Surprisingly, my 13 year old sometimes picks them up for a quick fun read! She told me that she remembers loving to read these books). As an avid reader myself, this is what I have always imagined for my children...reading and loving books. I have started buying the entire series in hopes that is plants a seed and creates a love of reading that transitions into other books as well.

My daughter has also just announced that she would love to have some of the "Franny K. Stein" series. Her entire class is waiting for the 1 that is in the library. I am ordering today!

Just thought I would share and say Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!
Every penny is worth it.... (Some are literally 1cent on Amazon :o)

Sincerely,
A grateful Mother and School Social Worker

2 people found this helpful

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Amy L.

Five Stars

Reviewed in the United States on July 14, 2018

Verified Purchase

My 10 year old girl loved this book. She said it was super funny

7 people found this helpful

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Joyce Stevens

Great reading for any preteen girl

Reviewed in the United States on November 14, 2017

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My 10 year old grand daughter and I love this series. The writer is so funny. We take turns reading aloud to each other and every time we end up laughing so hard we can't stop! Great reading for any preteen girl.

5 people found this helpful

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Mel Bee

Funny and enjoyable read for my tween

Reviewed in the United States on November 12, 2015

Verified Purchase

My daughter read this book and loved it. She read it quickly and laughed throughout. It was an easy and entertaining read and she really enjoyed the funny illustrations. It kept her attention and she recommends it to her friends all the time and she has already read several others in the series. She is hooked!

3 people found this helpful

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kristen

Nice

Reviewed in the United States on January 1, 2021

Verified Purchase

Delivered great! Just like from a book store

Reviewed in the United States on March 25, 2014

Verified Purchase

I ordered the first 8 for my Niece who is 9 and split them up between Christmas and her Birthday... She thought it was so awesome that I got her real books and she had so many in the collection!! I think any little girl between 8-10 for sure would love this book series and I was so excited she loved them!

One person found this helpful

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michael stanke

Great

Reviewed in the United States on February 24, 2020

Verified Purchase

Great

One person found this helpful

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Top reviews from other countries

Faith

Juvenile angst - short but sweet

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on August 25, 2020

Verified Purchase

After the success of Diary Of A Wimpy Kid, (a series I loved), an influx of middle school-based diary books for children were released; such as Dork Diaries, (a series I also loved), and I was surprised to learn that Dear Dumb Diary... didn't follow in these footsteps and the first book was actually published five years before Diary Of A Wimpy Kid.

I found these books after watching and becoming obsessed with the film adaptation released in 2013, almost a decade after the first book's publication (which gives us hopes for the Dork Diaries film we were promised!) yet I never got round to buying and reading the books until 2020.

Now, as a British girl, I'll never understand middle school. From what I know it's those weird few years from twelve to fourteen where you're too old for primary school and too young for high school, (every country could benefit from this system), and I feel like these middle school-based diary series' give me an accurate representation of the fact.

For an adult male writer, Benton captures the voice of a twelve year old girl VERY well. We all had a bit of Jamie in us. She's not perfect- she has awkward and embarrassing moments and lets her imagination run away with her and she can be internally rude, and that's what being twelve is all about.

This was an easy and fun read, I expected these books to be roughly 200-300 pages long, but this one wasn't even 100 pages. But it really worked.

There are a few moments from this book that were worked very well into the film adaptation, and even though I'd seen them onscreen hundreds of times, it was still fresh and new on the page. I also love the creative doodles and descriptive - once again, very authentic twelve year old voice.

This book kinda glorifies stealing permanent records from the principal, and the secondhand guilt was INTENSE.

The "standing on her neck" comment from page 26 REALLY hasn't aged well...

On page 31 Jamie says "Beret is french for stupid hat." and I CACKLED, I love the juvenile angst.

I love the way to remember the spelling of princiPAL on page 45 is to remember PALentology is the study of dinosaurs which are just as old as school principals.

The depiction of school nurses on page 79 was brutally and hilariously real. (Seriously, my secondary school nurse only had three days of first aid training. One time my friend broke her wrist. The "nurse" put a "cold compress" on it... said friend came in next day with a cast on her wrist.)

In conclusion, I really loved this book and can't wait to continue the series! 11 year old me is thriving, I would say I'm reading these for young Faith who was obsessed with the film adaptation... but I'm mostly reading it for present day Faith, and she's loving it! :)

3 people found this helpful

Norrie

Great book series with humour

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on February 6, 2021

Verified Purchase

Great book series for kids, definatly has humour, and the occasional word to expand ones vocabulary. Over time we will purchase the complete set once nearing the end of the one she is presently reading. Only slight gripe is I wish they were a little cheaper, reason being, to get kids reading at an affordable price, and 2 as it is paperback.