Diary of a Girl Next Door: Betty

by Tania del Rio, Bill Galvan (Illustrator)

Everyone’s favorite girl-next-door dives head first into high school and extracurricular activities.  Betty can do it all—but can she get by WITHOUT a little help from her friend? Freshman year is off to a rocky start with some major BFF drama!  Betty’s longtime best friend Veronica is rich, ruthless and snobby—the total opposite of Betty. And in high school, where social status means EVERYTHING, it seems like Betty and Veronica can’t be besties anymore. Luckily, Betty is armed with her trusty diary to document her ups and downs. Read about them all in this heartwarming and funny diary about the scariness that is starting high school!

Genres: Middle Grade, Graphic Novels, Comics, Contemporary

224 pages, Kindle Edition

First published August 13, 2013

About the author

Hi, my name is Tania del Rio, author of the middle grade novel, WARREN THE 13TH AND THE ALL-SEEING EYE for Quirk Books. The sequel, WARREN THE 13TH AND THE WHISPERING WOODS comes out on March 21st, 2017! I’m also a professional comic book writer and artist with 10 years experience writing and illustrating for a young audience. My clients include Archie Comics, Dark Horse, and Marvel. AOL Comics Alliance described my work on SABRINA THE TEENAGE WITCH as “One of the best and most underrated all-ages comics of the last 10 years”! Most recently, I am the author of DIARY OF A GIRL NEXT DOOR: BETTY, an illustrated novel for Archie comics. I’ve also edited MANGAKA AMERICA (Collins Design), a gallery and tutorial book featuring some of the hottest emerging North American manga artists of the time, and am currently working on another tutorial book for Focal Press on character design. I reside with three dogs in Los Angeles, California, where I can be found writing under a palm tree, expressing my inner teenager.

Reviews

[Harshini Vannikkarasan · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is something which every girl (sometimes even a boy) should read during her teens. But i should say there is no age limit in reading a book if you are going to love the content in the book. I enjoyed reading it and would surely recommend for a good read.

[Audrey JD · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love riverdale, so I got this in hopes it was good. And I was right! I really enjoyed it and I would definitely read it again!

[Richie · Rating 2 out of 5]

liked it as a child

[Charlotte · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was good but weird. 3.2

[Carolyn · Rating 2 out of 5]

I grew up reading Archie comics- I think my dad really wanted my sister and I to be into comic books more and happily bought us the Archie comics hoping it would evolve into superhero stuff (it only sort of did). I saw this at the library and was excited to revisit the Riverdale gang. And this was a cute book but I didn't like it much more than to think "oh. cute. ok." Maybe it's because Betty isn't my Archie girl of choice (I lean more towards Veronica; she's fun and also a brat). I thought the diary concept was cool and I liked the little drawings throughout but I didn't love the stories. Mostly because Betty is such a goody goody and her issues and problems come from joining too many clubs or working too hard! I think I would have liked this more if it was balanced with more of the other characters, like a joint diary between Veronica and Betty. But still, cute book.

[Carol · Rating 4 out of 5]

Everyone loves Betty from the Archie comics world. Here she is in a new, contemporary setting. Taking advantage of the popular diary-style novels, Betty begins her freshman year of high school. She is overly concerned about what to do with her life once high school is over and almost misses out on lots of the fun that can go along with high school. Her best friend, Ronnie, is of course obsessed with being popular and having the latest fashions. They both love, and want to be loved by, the adorable red-headed Archie. All the regular characters make their appearance and overall this book was more fun than I had anticipated. A good choice for jr. high and middle school readers that love the Dork Diary series.

[Zen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Well this was cute. Kinda like Diary of a Wimpy Kid but with a teenager instead. I've always liked Betty, so when I saw this on display I grabbed it without much thought. It doesn't help that I'm a sucker for any book with doodles.

I was pleasantly surprised, though a bit disappointed that I was able to get through it quickly. Still, it was fun and rather adorable; Diary Betty is a very endearing person.

[Akilah · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was super cute and fun.

The only thing I had an issue with is that Betty somehow didn't know Jughead (her next door neighbor and friend since at least elementary school) had a dog until she wanted to start a pet business. Yeah, that made no sense.

OTHER THAN THAT, everything was gravy. A bunch of cute little vignettes that all somehow connect to Betty trying to figure out what she wants to be when she grows up. Love.

[Danielle · Rating 3 out of 5]

I picked this up solely for being based on Archie Comics, and other than the character names it was a pretty average story. This had a sweet ending, though it was definitely written for younger readers, so I'm not sure why it was set in high school.

[Jeff · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Archie Comics version of Dork Diaries or Diary of a 7th grader, with Betty as the main character. Not bad.

[Deslyn · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love this book because it was a funny book and cute.My favourite part is when Veronica got mad at Betty because Betty looked like she got the dress dirty .

[Yvonne · Rating 3 out of 5]

Cute (very light) read for Archie fans.

[Tanny · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.5

[Scarlett · Rating 3 out of 5]

I wasn’t the biggest fan of the book. I found the characters were different from Archie. I know it’s supposed to be Betty’s book but I find I like Archie’s story better.