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Cover of The Unfamous Diaries of Daisy Brewster: The Drama Queens
Illustrated · ages 9–12

The Unfamous Diaries of Daisy Brewster: The Drama Queens

The Drama Queens

Written by Jenny Valentine · Illustrated by Hannah McCaffery

Book 2 in The Unfamous Diaries of Daisy BrewsterView the full series

Daisy's doodle-filled diary series continues as her celebrity cousin Maxxy hogs the spotlight (and Daisy's bedroom) while Daisy pours everything into the school drama club's big opening night.

  • Best for9–12
  • FormatIllustrated
Where to buyPaperback
WaterstonesIn stock
£7.99
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The vibe

What it’s like.

Style

  • Comedic
  • Conversational
  • Epistolary

Tone

  • Funny
  • Warm
  • Irreverent

Themes

On the pageschool play, celebrity, friendship drama, first crush, sibling relationships

Experience meters

Energy4/ 5
Humour5/ 5
Scariness1/ 5
Peril1/ 5
Wonder2/ 5
Cosiness3/ 5
Emotional intensity2/ 5
Conceptual intensity2/ 5

What’s it about?

The story.

The sparkling diary series continues in The Drama Queens. Daisy is back at school, but her super-celebrity cousin Maxxy is STILL sharing her room while filming a new TV show, and Daisy's mum is always on set. Her dad is buried in work and her brother Leo is being a teenage tyrant, so the only thing keeping Daisy calm is drama club. With just weeks until the big opening night, Daisy pours everything into her performance, but a diva-ish Maxxy, sudden strange feelings about her floppy-haired co-star Olivier, a giant spot on her chin, and gossiping girls angling for Maxxy's attention all threaten to derail the show. Told through Daisy's funny, list-strewn, doodle-packed diary, this is a warm, laugh-out-loud read for fans of Lottie Brooks and Dork Diaries, about staying true to yourself when everyone else wants a piece of the fame.

Fit check

Right for your child?

Where it lands by age

A 9-12 independent read that builds on book one with the same short, doodle-strewn diary entries. Confident younger readers manage it easily; the school-play and first-crush threads give tweens more to enjoy. Shares happily from about 8.

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  • 5
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  • Best fit · 9–12
  • Read aloud · 8–11
  • Independent · 9–12

Prose load

Light

Visual support

Moderate

Reluctant-reader friendly

Very

Read-aloud quality

Workable

Works well for

  • Reading together
  • Reluctant readers
Low sensitivityNo content warnings

Nothing in the book is likely to concern most parents. Safe to recommend without preview.

Bedtime suitability

3 / 5 · Workable

Sensitive-child

4 / 5 · Good fit

Graphic intensity

1 / 5 · None

Best for

  • Funny diary
  • Reluctant readers
  • School stories
  • Friendship

Avoid if

  • Wants high stakes adventure

Particularly good for children who are…

  • Making friends

Why it lands

Why they love it.

Why kids love it

Daisy's put-upon diary voice is hilarious as she battles a diva cousin, a mega spot before the big show and confusing new feelings about her co-star. The doodles and lists make every page a quick, funny hit.

  • Proving yourself
  • Friendship and belonging
  • Being understood finally

Why parents love it

A reliably funny, illustration-packed diary that keeps reluctant readers turning pages, with gentle notes about self-worth and staying grounded when fame is all around. An easy next step for anyone who loved book one.

  • Shared humour
  • Quick to read

In the series

The Unfamous Diaries of Daisy Brewster.

3 books · open the series →

About the creators

About the creators.

JV

Jenny Valentine

Writer · United Kingdom · b. 1970

Jenny Valentine is a British writer born in 1970, best known as a Guardian Children's Fiction Prize-winning author of fiction for older children and teenagers, whose debut Finding Violet Park announced a warm, sharply funny voice. In the corpus she turns that voice to younger comedy with The Unfamous Diaries of Daisy Brewster, a doodle-packed diary series in the Dork Diaries and Lottie Brooks mould. Ordinary Daisy has to share her decidedly unfamous life with Maxxy, her Hollywood child-star cousin, and across The Frenemies, The Drama Queens and The Superstars discovers the real girl behind the million followers. Told entirely as Daisy's list-strewn, aside-throwing diary, the books wrap laugh-out-loud jokes about fame and frenemies around a grounded, good-hearted story about staying true to yourself.

More from Jenny Valentine
HM

Hannah McCaffery

Illustrator · United Kingdom

Hannah McCaffery is a children's illustrator from a small seaside town in North Wales, working digitally with a soft spot for tiny details and silliness. She graduated in illustration for children's publishing and has worked both in-house and freelance before turning to illustrated fiction. Her most visible work is The Unfamous Diaries of Daisy Brewster, Jenny Valentine's comic diary series about ordinary Daisy and her Hollywood-famous cousin Maxxy, which she stuffs with doodles, lists and laugh-out-loud asides in the doodled-diary tradition of Dork Diaries and Lottie Brooks. Her line is loose, funny and expressive, giving the diary format its scrapbook energy and making the pages feel handmade by the narrator herself. A good fit for confident younger readers who love a diary they can pore over as much as read.

More from Hannah McCaffery

If you liked this

Three ways out of this book.

If you liked this, try…

Lateral matches. Same shelf, different texture.

Come into this from…

Easier or preparing reads — perfect lead-ins.

Where to go next…

Escalation reads — a step up in scale, silliness, or stakes.

Last reviewed · July 2026Suggest a correctionHow we recommend

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