The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks by E. Lockhart

The hilarious and razor-sharp story of how one girl went from geek to patriarchy-smashing criminal mastermind in two short years, from the #1 New York Times bestselling author of We Were Liars and Genuine Fraud. * National Book Award finalist * * Printz Honor * Frankie Landau-Banks at age 14: Debate Club. Her father's bunny rabbit. A mildly geeky girl attending a highly competitive boarding school. Frankie Landau-Banks at age 15: A knockout figure. A sharp tongue. A chip on her shoulder. And a gorgeous new senior boyfriend: the supremely goofy, word-obsessed Matthew Livingston. Frankie Landau-Banks. No longer the kind of girl to take no for an answer. Especially when no means she's excluded from her boyfriend's all-male secret society. Not when she knows she's smarter than any of them. When she knows Matthew's lying to her. And when there are so many pranks to be done. Frankie Landau-Banks, at age 16: Possibly a criminal mastermind. This is the story of how she got that way. Editorial Reviews Lockhart's (Dramarama) witty novel about boarding school high jinks of a most cerebral order receives winning treatment from Sirois-her slightly nasal voice for the heroine, 16-year-old Frankie, seems in character and is somehow endearing. Frankie starts her sophomore year with elevated social status thanks to having become the main squeeze of Big Man on Campus Matthew Livingston, but confides her conflicted feelings about being arm candy to roommate Trish, who responds with sweet but Valley Girl-esque befuddlement befitting someone who stays home making fruit crumbles while the boys go out partying. Sirois goes to a deeper register for heartthrob Matthew, leader of the Loyal Order of the Basset Hounds, an all-male secret society Frankie plots to infiltrate, and affects a surfer-dude patois for Alpha, Matthew's sidekick. Sirois preserves the fun in Lockhart's talky novel, largely fueled by the intelligent repartee among its principals. Ages 12-up. Simultaneous release with the Hyperion hardcover (Reviews, Jan 7).(June)Copyright Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. - Publishers Weekly Gr 7 Up Over the course of one summer, Frankie Landau-Banks, a somewhat geeky girl with an unassuming nature, has developed into a 15-year-old with an attention-grabbing figure, a new attitude, and sights set on making changes at her elite boarding school in this novel (Hyperion, 2008) by W. Lockhart. The teenager also has a new boyfriend, a gorgeous senior who belongs to a long-standing secret society on campus-The Loyal Order of the Basset Hounds, known mostly for silly pranks and a history of male-only membership. With a witty, sharp, and intelligently scheming mind, Frankie manipulates the Loyal Order to do her bidding with pranks meant to make a political statement about the male-dominated and classist nature of the school. Tanya Eby Sirois adequately voices the characters. Frankie's personality is portrayed most effectively; some of the slang and the attitudes of the male characters feel forced. Telephone calls are relayed using special effects that are mostly convincing, and the segments that are told via emails are well conveyed and perfectly paced. Listeners will feel that they are a part of the teen's disreputable and humorous history. An overall fun listen that the author's fans are sure to enjoy.-Stephanie A. Squicciarini, Fairport Public Library, NY - School Library Journal This cerebral and offbeat comedy of manners will appeal to fans of John Green's An Abundance of Katherines (2006). Spunky boarding-school sophomore Frances Frankie Landau-Banks is tired of being underestimated by the men in her life, including her upperclassman boyfriend Matthew and his wittier-than-thou friends. Inspired by P.G. Wodehouse's Code of the Woosters, she infiltrates Matthew's secret and exclusive male club-The Loyal Order of the Basset Hounds-and, unbeknownst to them, begins orchestrating their elaborate pranks. She hopes the boys will be awed by her ingenuity and finally acknowledge her brains as well as her recently developed body. But Matthew & Co. are less than pleased to discover Frankie's deception, and she learns the hard way that it's better to be alone . . . than to be with someone who can't see who you are. Lockhart has transcended the chick-lit genre with this adroit, insightful examination of the eternal adolescent push-pull between meekly fitting in and being liked or speaking out and risking disdain. A funny feminist manifesto that will delight the anti-Gossip Girl gang. (Fiction. YA) - Kirkus Reviews A homage to girl-power, the novel offers biting social commentary throughout - not the kind that deadens a story but the kind that gives it punch - and a protagonist who is independent and fearless...-New York Times - From the Publisher Here is a fun poke at fancy preparatory schools, their fancy-schmancy pedigrees, and the students who attend them. Tanya Eby Sirois is a great vocal match for the offbeat, unpretentious Frankie Landau-Banks, who takes on the status quo at her private school and proves to be the alpha-female of the old boy secret society The Bassett Hounds. As Sirois portrays Frankie's transformation from skinny, near-invisible kid sister to the ever-so-noticeable it girl, her inflections, especially of sarcasm, are just right. Characterizations are also well done for boyfriend Matt and the pretentious Alpha Dog. Although rich, spoiled, and pampered, these teens are the same as any other: impractical, daring, and fun to listen to while they pull pranks and cause commotion-simply to prove they can. D.L.M. AudioFile 2008, Portland, Maine - NOVEMBER 2008 - AudioFile