Rachel Renée Russell (born March 13, 1959) is an American author of the children's book series Dork Diaries and its spin-off The Misadventures of Max Crumbly. Russell grew up in Saint Joseph, Michigan, and has four younger siblings, two sisters and twin brothers. She attended Northwestern University, then law school. As of 2013, she lives in Chantilly, Virginia.Dork Diaries, written in a diary format, uses doodles, drawings, and comic strips to chronicle the daily life of the main character, Nikki Maxwell, as she struggles to fit in and survive middle school. The series is based on Russell's middle school experiences. Her daughter, Nikki, is the illustrator of the series. The main character, Nikki Maxwell, is named after her daughter.The Misadventures of Max Crumbly is about a character, Maxwell Crumbly, who keeps a diary about his challenges in middle school. He is introduced in Dork Diaries: Tales From A Not-So Perfect Pet Sitter. As of August 2020, 55 million copies of Dork Diaries are in print worldwide in 42 languages, and the book series has spent 325 weeks on the New York Times Best Sellers list in the Children's Series category. Source: Wikipedia (en)