First Book Blogger Book Club Review: THE DISREPUTABLE HISTORY OF FRANKIE LANDAU-BANKS by E. Lockhart

 

In a joint venture, First Book and book bloggers are kicking off First Book Blogger Book Club. I am excited to participate with dozens of other bloggers in this mission to spotlight First Book and the books they offer.

Please check monthly to see my reviews, links for First Book, and announcements about this new project.

First Book is a nonprofit group providing books to children with little or no access to books as a way to tackle the literacy problem locally. Community by community, book by book, child by child. First Book is making a difference!

 

THE DISREPUTABLE HISTORY OF

FRANKIE LANDAU-BANKS

 by E. Lockhart

352 pp. Hyperion, YA.

Frankie Landau-Banks returns in the fall of her sophomore year to her co-ed boarding school where her social changes catch up with her emerging curves. Her family calls her ‘bunny rabbit’ because of her quiet, harmless persona. However, a transformative summer has shown Frankie that the world is divided into groups: those who can and those who cannot. Girls are in the ‘cannot category.’ Frankie sets out to challenge the status quo and doesn’t take no for an answer. Convinced that everything is at stake and nothing is off-limits, she plots to crash her boyfriend’s preppy gender-exclusive club. Frankie peppers her daily life with word games that leave her friends shaking their heads and wagging their tongues. She desires to become a brilliant anarchist by climbing over every stereotype thrown in her path. And she is successful. But the win costs her more than she expected, and her future is in jeopardy along with her newly created social ladder.

The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks is a great read. E. Lockhart has created a colorful protagonist who struggles with every issue common to teen girls. Although the setting is a wealthy college-prep high school, Lockhart crafts a likeable elite character who aspires to be more than eye-candy for the latest popular jock. Frankie Landau-Banks is that and more; she is curious, clever, and cheeky – a young adult engaging in the world around her to find her place in a world of rules. Lockhart successfully draws readers into a satisfying and harmonious story through the narrative voice of an unknown third-person. Not my favorite point of view, but it works brilliantly here. Parents will enjoy the walk down memory lane, a reminder of those turbulent years, and teens will quote Frankie despite her ‘disreputable’ history! Do I see a sequel on the horizon?

 

More  of my reviews  for First Book on The Book Club Page

 

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