A few story touches and the illustrations show that this appens to be about 2 African American girls. But Nikki and Deja's friendship with its ups and downs is the same sort of experience little girls of all backgrounds go through is timeless. The lack of slang, gadgets, or brand name dropping will keep this from dating. The fact that it is short and simply written will make it useful for younger readers just tackling novels. In short while it's not a book that will set the pond on fire, it's a

An engaging story about two girls who are best friends and live next door to each other. The girls are in 3rd grade and learn some important lessons about friendship and loyalty as the story progresses. Karen English has also made both her main characters African American with one living in a traditional household and one with her aunt. Loved the illustrations!

Great beginning chapter book about two friends who live next door to each other.

Nikki and Deja are third graders, best friends living next door to each other. Deja can’t stop thinking about her birthday party, and she’s been talking about it for days. Nikki tries to be patient and helpful, but it’s hard sometimes! Now all sorts of things are threatening to ruin Deja’s big day: Her mom has to go on a last-minute business trip; another popular girl at school is going to throw a “just because” party on the same day as Deja’s party. What are the two friends going to do? Will D

Here is the sad but true fact about the state of children's publishing today. You would think that for all our talk about diversity and equal opportunity that the number of books for children with African-American characters would make up a significant part of the marketplace. Not as such. Oh, you can certainly find picture books with African Americans, if you squint really hard and look in the right places. But here's a fun game to play: Walk into your local bookstore and library and try to fin...

**THIS IS MY DAUGHTER'S REVIEW (9 years old)**This book is about two best friends that have an argument, but in the end, they work it out. What I Liked -I liked that it was about best friends (I have a best friend named Deja too!).- I liked how the characters acted in the story.- I like that this book had a few pictures to go along with the story. Not too many, but just right. What I Didn't Like -There isn't anything that I didn't like about this book. What I Wanted More Of - I wanted m...

The first installment of a chapter book series featuring African American characters. Even with the diversity movement in children's books, chapter books (always a second cousin) have been primarily left out. The dearth of chapter books for PoC, coupled with the fact that this is authentically rendered realistic fiction, make this chapter book series an important contribution to the canon of children's literature.The writing is solid. Both the neighborhood and the school feel genuine. Written by...

This story had so much potential to effectively address the exclusivity of best friends and clubs popular among young girls. However, the author completely drops the ball, allowing the girls to be mean with each other and never resolving the problems that arise. Could be a great book for discussions with teacher guidance, yet I hesitate to recommend it to young readers who don't yet possess the comprehension skills to question the books resolve and the characters relationships.

I literally read this in about 45min - 1 hour. It was cute and short. I mainly read it because I was looking for children's chapter books that contained a main character that was black. The story was cute and something that would happen to many little girls; however, I wanted more of a resolution int the end. I might pick up the rest of the books from the library in the future.

I really loved the book because the book was about two little girls living next door from each other and nikki loved to do deja hair because nikki just didn"nt have much hair as deja i guess she loved palying in her hair but in the part of the story deja got tired of nikki playing in here hair and she told her to stop i"m currently reading nikki and deja Election madness but i really like the person who made these books cause they really make very good boooks follow name is karen english and is

Nikki and Deja gets an extra star from me because it's like a breath of fresh air to read an early chapter book with regular African-American girl characters in everyday situations: trying to do each others' hair, having friendship drama, and hoping the loud kids in line don't get the whole class in trouble. Like many early chapter books, it's a story of friendship between two girls, with chapters of discrete small moments scaffolded within an ongoing storyline. There's drama -- they're BFFs but...

Well, unlike at least one other reviewer, I saw Nikki as of East Indian descent, and Deja as of African. After all, Nikki doesn't know about kinky hair... And they're not even necessarily American, so saying "African-American" is rather silly. They're just two little girls, best friends in a friendly working-class neighborhood. Which is a good thing.However, Deja is a Mean Girl, and Nikki is working hard to become one. Yes. Note that even after they supposedly learn their lesson, Antonia is stil...

An African-American version of Ivy & Bean, but not as interesting a plot.

An amazing gem of a beginning reader. The characters are fun, fresh and developmentally appropriate. Story is spot on.

this is a very cute series. the characters are regular kids and they do stupid things and mean things and kind things and other things like NORMAL KIDS.I love books that help normalize diverse groups. This book is not for black kids. This book is for kids.

As an adult I find friendship woes kind of tedious, but I remember being in elementary school and those challenges were really important. Nikki and Deja is another one of these friendship books that I think does a great job of modeling what good friends do. I really appreciate that this book (and others about friendship) show that friends can fight. This isn’t a Pollyanna of a book. Friendship, and really any relationship, takes work and will have it’s share of bumps along the way.I also appreci...

10/15/2018 ~~ This book perfectly illustrates the "girl drama" that can take place among children who are in the same class and go to the same school. I appreciated that the books showed characters of color doing "kid stuff," without exploring overtly critical issues.In a few cases, I felt that the two girls actually seemed a bit older than the scene in the first chapter (thumb sucking, not knowing how to braid.) After reading the second and third books in the series, I think I'll be recommendin...

I didn't like this...or dislike it. It's the portrayal of a friendship between two 3rd grade girls. While most girls have experienced the ups and downs in a friendship that these girls experience, thus cementing its wide appeal, the book didn't really offer a fresh perspective.What I did appreciate was the portrayal of African-American girls without changing their vernacular or blatantly pointing it out in the text. This could be very popular in most of our branches, and I'll certainly buy a lot...

I thought that this story about two friends was extremely cute and completely appealing to young students. I think that teaching students about social interaction, friendships, and emotions are just as important as teaching academic material. I think that this story is also great for students that are beginning to read chapter books. This book is great for students who may be dealing with similar conflicts with friends. I also think that this story is great because it relates to things particula...

Nikki and Deja are third graders who also happen to be best friends. When a new girl moves in and acts snotty toward them they decide to form a club just so they can keep her out. This don't work out exactly as they plan. This is a great series for black/african american girls (or boys) that doesn't focus the story around the color of their skin but rather on their friendship and relationships around them. Great for little girls who want to read for fun and looking for characters to identify wit...