The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks (original 2008; edition 2008)

from bn.com
Frankie Landau-Banks, a sophomore at Alabaster, a prestigious boarding school, is tired of being taken for granted by everyone. Dad calls her "bunny rabbit" and her family and friends don‘t really think she‘s capable of much. But she suddenly finds herself the girlfriend of Matthew, one of the hottest seniors on campus. Frankie finds out that Matthew is a member of the school's secret all-male society, the Loyal Order of the Basset Hounds. Frankie is determined to find out what the Bassets do and how to become a Basset herself, so she follows Matthew and his Basset friends. In her own way, she is able to infiltrate the all-male society and send its members on many errands, setting up schoolwide pranks. The best part is that no one suspects the adorable Frankie as having a hand in it. A funny book that will leave you cheering for Frankie, you definitely won't want to put this one down before she's through. Reviewer: Jennifer Lee ( )

Frankie is a strong female main character who is enjoyable to watch grow up during her sophmore year. You cheer for her and sometimes cringe for her! Although there are brief mentions of sex, it does not dominate the book. The book is a quick read that many teen girls would enjoy.

Great read! Strong characters and storyline made me want to keep reading. The wordplay in the story, while annoying in the beginning, made me laugh out loud. ( )

Up until right now, I couldn’t get the title of this book right in my mind. I always left out a word or spelled a name wrong…searching for this book anywhere took me awhile. The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau Banks could have an even longer name and I would still read it! The name works with the story and I’m finally able to recite it from memory.

Frankie is a wonderful narrator with a strong voice. I enjoyed her story. Her humor and her outlook had me wanting to read more…another page turner for me. Frankie just wanted to be treated as an equal throughout the story and to be part of something she thought she had a right and wanted to be included in.

Frankie’s story isn’t just good for teenagers. I was also questioning and thinking about things in my life I could change to be like Frankie. She’s only 15 years old, but she could be a role model for any woman at any age. Frankie is very inspiring and the courage and strive she showed during her story is commendable.

I loved much of the talk of secret societies, this book pretty much revolves around them, or one in particular. The talk of even a popular secret society movie had me smile. E. Lockhart’s writing style is just gorgeous and all the little details she adds regarding language and panopticon (the dictionary helped me here) enhanced the story.

I’m now an E. Lockart FAN! I will be checking out her other novels probably starting with The Boyfriend List because I already own it. I’m hoping her other novels are just as fantastic if not better than The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks. ( )

Hmmm. I didn't love this book. It was an okay, fun read. It had a strong message to girls, which is, don't erase yourself when you fall for a guy. Positive, I guess. There was just so much competition with the 'stronger gender', the more 'powerful sex' that it gave too much credibility to that old school way of thinking for me. If you can get passed that, you end up with an exciting story of a girl at a boarding school who feels left out of her school's boys-only secret society so she decides to infiltrate them. They literally become her puppets and she, the puppet master. She does this at the expense of all of her new friends and her boyfriend though. Like I said, I didn't love this one. ( )

Frankie is struggling to define her identity to herself and those around her. Is she just a vapid "little girl"? or a prankster mastermind? ( )

Review originally posted to: www.books4hearts.com

Review originally posted to www.books4hearts.com

I mean, READ THE DESCRIPTION. Read it. Doesn't that sound witty/epic/amazing? This book is just plain LEGIT. I couldn’t think of a better word for it. I loved pretty much everything about it, and wish I had read it before-- if only because by now I would’ve been on my billionth or so re-read. The characters, the story, and the voice… Just amazing!

The voice. This has to be my favorite thing about the book. It was different than anything else I’ve ever read, so extremely unique. Words! There were word-plays, grammar geeking out, a copy-editor boyfriend, and even out of the story, just the narration, WORDS were used. When I say words I mean peculiar words that you don’t use often, advanced words, whatever you like but the way they were used was awesome. The book was just plain intelligent, without being overly so like it was unrealistic or you have to look up words or something.

The characters. Frankie is awesome. She’s probably my new favorite female protagonist in YA, as well as one I could really identify it. She was sarcastic, intelligent, and ambitious. There are lots of sarcastic/smart/whatever characters in the world but Frankie’s character development was pretty much flawless and I think it was also very realistic. She was very smart but she also seemed like a normal teenager. The other characters were fabulous too, Trisha, Frankie’s roommate was likeable and had a personality although we didn’t see that much of her. When she was around in the story she was really epic because her mom was a psychologist, so whenever she was giving Frankie advice and such she always did everything with psychological stuff and it was fascinating. The boys, the bassets, the dogs, whatever you’d like to call them were great too, all in their own ways.

The story of the bassets and the secret societies and the story of the school was great as well. The school being designed the way it was with its traditions and suitably its secrets or ‘secret organizations’ were good too. All very interesting.

Anyway. Sorry for the huge review but I just didn’t know how else to do this book justice. It was so legitimate. Intelligent, humorous, fascinating, very quirky, just all around a great book!

This is really is a 4.5 star book for me. I thoroughly enjoyed it, and found it thought provoking as well as entertaining.I'm a sucker for books about smart, quirky girls, and Frankie certainly qualifies. On the one hand, this is a fun book about boarding school and pranks. The pranks are creative, and the characters are fun to spend time with. The book satisfies even if only taken at this level.Luckily, The Disreputable History is even more than that. It is a girl's exploration of who she wants to be, and what role the people around her play in this. How much say does her boyfriend have in defining her? How about the groups at school? How much does the view her family has of her? What about actions she takes that no one knows about? ( )

I enjoyed this book--Frankie's character was charming and engaging, and I liked the slightly distant and humorous narration, too. As a kid, I often had fantasies about going away to boarding school and belonging to secret societies, and I know that I would have been thrilled to read about Frankie's gutsy acts of mischief and mayhem--but I also would have been impressed with her search for ways to make a meaningful statement, to defy those who underestimate her. I also like that she was realistically portrayed as a girl who, even as she wanted to be strong and earn the respect of her older boyfriend and his confident friends, she also felt swayed by her attraction to them and flattered by their attention. This complexity gives Frankie's character more depth than if she always knew exactly what she wanted and was always one hundred percent the perfect feminist. ( )

This one was at the top of my LT recommendation list, has won several awards, and had a very positive blurb from Ally Carter. Also, have I mentioned that I like boarding schools? So it was probably inevitable that I would pick this one up eventually, even though the basic premise didn't particularly appeal.

In the end, I probably should have gone with my gut rather than being swayed by all the praise. This was a quick read, and I actually stayed up a bit too late to finish it last night, but I still came away pretty disappointed in the story as a whole.

The main problem is that I didn't much like the protagonist. Frankie-Landau Banks attends an expensive boarding school, but was basically a nobody her first year. In the summer, though, she magically develops an amazing body and is soon dating a very popular senior.

Unfortunately, he's more concerned about his all-male secret society than about Frankie. He's not particularly interested in listening to her opinions. So Frankie comes up with all sorts of devious plans to show that secret society what a girl can do.

This could have been a good story, and Frankie's various pranks are certainly entertaining enough. What I didn't like was the fact that while supposedly rebelling against people's preconceptions of her, she's simultaneously extremely concerned about maintaining her relationship with this guy who doesn't respect her. It's not clear what the attraction is, beyond the physical and the fact that she likes being part of his group of friends. So much for the message of girl power and thinking for yourself.

At the same time, Frankie hardly ever seems to think about her old friends now that she's part of the popular crowd. She uses her roommate, certainly, whenever she needs to be let back into the dorm after sneaking out at night. But she never confides anything to her and readily ditches her when her new friends come by. In fact, Frankie's treatment of her roommate is pretty much the same as her boyfriend's treatment of her, so the fact that she finds fault with him while acting the same way herself makes her the worst kind of hypocrite.

I also wasn't particularly enamoured of the writing; I found it overly self-aware in a way bordering on the pretentious. On page 107, for example, far enough along that I'd like to be thoroughly absorbed in the story, a chapter begins with the following two paragraphs:

How does a person become the person she is? What are the factors in her culture, her childhood, her education, her religion, her economic stature, her sexual orientation, her race, her everyday interactions--what stimuli lead her to make choices other people will despise her for?

This chronicle is an attempt to mark out the contributing elements in Frankie Landau-Banks's character. What led her to do what she did: things she would later view with a curious mixture of hubris and regret. Frankie's mental processes had been stimulated by Ms. Jensson's lectures on the panopticon, [and various spoilers omitted]. All these were factors in what happened next. And here is another:

Besides the fact that I wanted to be inside the story rather than analyzing it from a distance, I found that the events themselves didn't quite justify the build-up.

I was planning to write more, but I think I've already said more than enough. On the whole, this was a quick read but not ultimately a very satisfying one. Of course, I'm aware that I seem to be in the minority here. I wouldn't want anyone to avoid reading the book solely on the basis of my review, but I would encourage anyone who's considering it to think twice. ( )

Frankie Landau-Banks could eat up other contemporary fictional heroines like Bella Swan, Serena Vanderwoodsen and Blair Waldorf for breakfast, and could even outsmart Katniss Everdeen. Frankie is the complex feminist role model for teenage girls that we have been waiting for. She is cut from the same mould as Harriet the Spy and Veronica Mars, and probably would never become the President of the United States because she would find the role too limiting. This book is clever, funny, well-written and has impeccable grammar. It does in writing what Mean Girls did on film, except with a Foulcauldian framework and an overt feminist sensibility (the feminism is there in Mean Girls, but Frankie actually identifies as feminist and her target isn't other girls, it is Old Boys and The System). I have not been so utterly delighted by a young adult novel since I read Harry Potter. We should all thank our lucky stars that Frankie has no magic; she is already well-equipped to take over the world. Bags being on her side. ( )

My review is right here on my book blog: MyShelves.Available at Teton County Library, call number YA LOCKHART ( )

Sara A- I really liked this book had exsiting twist in plot and ending wasnt expected. Great book! Frankie is very confident. ( )

I loved Frankie. She knows who she is and what she wants. She doesn't let her boyfriend or her friends, or even her family define who she is. They try to, but she won't let them.

It began with a pale blue envelope with an image of a basset hound stamped in the red sealing wax. Frankie Landau-Banks, sophomore at the exclusive Alabaster Prep School has far more mind than any of her friends and family give her credit for. When Frankie receives the pale blue invitation she sets about proving her intelligence in a unique manner. ( )

Wow! A fantastic book that shows a girl can be pretty AND have brains. Frankie shows the boys just how a secret society should be, with epic pranks and showstopping theatrics. A must read! ( )

A good book that tells the story of a sophmore at private school who is trying to prove herself as a girl. In her school, boys have their own secret society and girls are treated by their boyfriends as cute and even stupid. She takes over their secret society and proves that she can be one of the boys. ( )

Recently, on Twitter, I asked my feed for recommendations of books involving teenagers making a difference in the world and I was recommended this book. Let me get this out of the way right now: this is the kind of book the five-star rating was made for. This book is one of the best books I have ever read. Period. It's about Frankie, a 15-year-old girl who attends Alabaster, an exclusive prep school. It is about that. But then again, it's about every single one of those words: it's about Frankie as a person, it's about the fact that she's 15, it's about the fact that she's a girl and it's about the fact that she attends an exclusive prep school, with all the elitism that contains.
This is the book I would put in the hands of my 15-year-old self were I allowed to meet her once more, because it would help me figure things out, things I now know but would have benefited from knowing back then, too.
So, Frankie has grown over the summer and now, suddenly, Matthew Livingstone, a boy she'd had a crush on for years and years, notices her. He notices when she falls off her bike and comes and rescues her. Frankie is pleased, but part of her wonders whether he'd still be interested in her if she didn't need rescuing. Part of her wonders if he'd still be interested in her if she spoke her mind. If she rebelled. If she outsmarted him. If, in short, she proved to be herself and not live up to his expectations.

The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks is an insanely smart book about gender with a riveting plot, crushing conclusions and well-written, complex characters. It would be hard quoting every single passage I adored, but here are a few:

Frankie is grateful to have such a loyal friend, but it does not escape her notice that Trish's lack of understanding is a condition of that loyalty. Were Trish to fully comprehend the way Frankie thinks, the subjects she ponders all the time when she appears to be quietly doing her homework - Frankie's anger and hunger - she would pull away. To Trish, Frankie is still the ordinary girl with gerbils at home in a Habitail, only now more melancholy and in need of cheering up, due to the second bad boyfriend in a row.

She hoped, she hoped he would understand. That he would appreciate her the way he appreciated Alpha. Admire her cleverness, her ambition, her vision. That he would admit her as his equal, or even as his superior, and love her for what she was capable of.

'Why is it psychotic if I did it and genius if Alpha did it?' wailed Frankie. 'That's so unfair. It's a double standard.'

Elizabeth raised her eyebrows: 'You have some balls'. Frankie hated that expression, ever since Zada had pointed out to her that it equates courage with the male equipment.'

You know what this book does? This book is an answer to 'why do we need feminism today, anyway?' Frankie lives in today's world and she faces misogyny everywhere she goes. It's insidious, it's tiny tiny words and attitudes, but it's there. There's an amazing scene in which she breaks a rule nobody ever realized was a rule because of tradition and familiarity 'we've always done this without questioning it so why do different' and I feel this scene was a symbol of the whole book. Throughout the book, we see Frankie stand up to instances of misogyny nobody seems to realize exist. This book shows you why we need feminism today. In one of the first passages of the book, Frankie wants to go out for a walk and her mother forbids her. Frankie is annoyed and asks, 'if I were a boy, would you let me go?' I think this book explores that - how far people let you go when you're a girl, and how far when you're a boy, and what that means. It's also a wonderfully effective example that gender is constructed, because even when they have the exact same abilities, a boy and a girl won't be treated the same, and Frankie proves that in the best way possible.

It's also a book about prep school, elitism, ambition, connections, networks and friendship, and ultimately, it's also very much a book about nepotism. I thought the setting of Alabaster allowed the author to explore all that through Frankie and for having been through it myself, at least partly, it was good to have an honest look at this world and what is inherently wrong with it. People hire people they know or who've been recommended to them by people they know, they interview people they know, they do services to people they know and those are the people in charge. The end was bitter-sweet in that respect, because I expected Frankie to make a different choice, but I do understand her decision too.

Frankie is an indelible character, she's one of the best heroines I've ever encountered in literature and I feel so lucky to have found this book, which I think deserves to be even more well-known. Had I known how good it was going to be, how I would want to read it again as soon as I'd finished it, I would have picked it up way sooner. Don't make the same mistake, buy The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks now, it's an outstanding book you'll remember for a long, long time. ( )

There are numerous themes woven into this story; feminism, romance, friendship, loyalty, class, and privilege. These themes are expertly brought out through rich characters and a well layered plot that challenges authority and brings out some mischievous goings on. A well written and enjoyable read. ( )

Frankie Landau-Banks is smarter than the average fifteen year old girl, and she’s determined to prove it to a secret society of boys in The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks by E. Lockhart. Frankie is known as “Bunny Rabbit” to her a family, a name that annoys her because she feels that they underestimate her. When she returns to Alabaster boarding school for her sophomore year, she is minus her older sister (who graduated) and plus some new curves that developed over the summer. Suddenly the boys on campus find her attractive, and she finds herself being asked to a party by Matthew Livingston, a senior who she’s had a crush on since her freshman year. Matthew is sweet and loving, but she soon finds that he will cancel plans with her in favor of his friend Alpha. Frankie deals with this until Matthew cancels a much-anticipated date night. Upset, she follows him, and finds that he is meeting with the Loyal Order of the Basset Hounds—an all male club her father belonged to during his days at Alabaster. Frankie becomes increasingly obsessed with the club and being able to be a part of it. She takes it upon herself to find the club’s history, entitled “The Disreputable History of the Loyal Order of the Bassett Hounds.” Upon finding it, she master-minds several campus-wide pranks which she gets the boys in the club to execute by masquerading as Alpha. Alpha goes along with her plans and takes credit for them, but soon the school is calling the pranks “vandalism” and someone is going to have to take the fall.
Frankie is a believable teenage girl with insecurities and a brilliant mind. The story is told from a third person perspective, by a narrator who is very matter-of-fact, which makes the book feel almost like a police case of psychology study at times. There is adventure and romance galore, all rolled into the feeling of exclusiveness that seems to automatically accompany a boarding school setting. The rule breaking that is performed by the Loyal Order of the Bassett Hounds often has a deeper meaning behind the surface of the prank, but it is never anything too dark or serious. Indeed, the pranks are often a call for some sort of improvement to Alabaster or to do away with the “old boy” mentality. This book is a wonderful read, and girls who have been waiting for a female with the capability of being an evil genius to emerge will be pleased. Recommended for grades 8 and up. ( )

To everyone's surprise - including her own - Frankie Landau-Banks made the proverbial transformation from ugly (well, average) duckling to swan during the summer between her freshman and sophomore years at Alabaster Prep. Returning to school without the comforting oversight of her older sister Zada, now graduated and off at Berkeley, she's a new person - or, at the very least, an unrecognizable one. While she's miffed that she seemingly made so little impression on people the year before, she's definitely making one now, and she's captured the notice of her long-time crush, senior Matthew Livingston.

Frankie's father attended Alabaster, and he's told tales of a secret society from his days there; rumors are that it's still around, and Frankie suspects that her boyfriend and his friends know something about it. The thing about secrets is that, one way or another, someone with the determination to crack them usually finds a way to do it - and when the person who cracks a secret knows something about it that you don't, power shifts.

The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks is propelled by subterfuge and secret plots, but there's more to it than that. It's about challenging expectations and traditions, girl power vs. Old Boys, identity politics and social maneuvering. It's not just about high-school life; it's boarding-school life, where the intensity of high school ramps up because you're always there. And it's about Frankie Landau-Banks, whose sudden external changes are the catalyst for reassessing who she is on the inside, and for wanting to prove that she's more than what she is on the outside. She is certainly not her family's "Bunny Rabbit" any more; she is an emerging feminist with an active, inquiring mind of her own.

I loved this book from the first chapter. Frankie is one of the sharpest characters I've met lately, and I adored her. The story is smart, and so is the writing - it's funny, yet thoughtful, and rings true. I'm begging my 16-year-old to read The Disreputable History... - I hope she will, because I think she'll love Frankie too. I'm not sure how you could NOT love Frankie. ( )

***SPOILER***

This is one of my favorite books for so many reasons. The storyline (outlined below), the characters, the chapter titles, the idea of Panopticon (feel like you're being watched so you don't do anything wrong) and the word play-Imagined Neglected Positives, False Neglected Positives, Neglected Positives.

Frankie Landau-Banks, aka Bunny Rabbit, is tired of being underestimated. Her father and his friends were members of the all boys Loyal Order of the Bassets at the elite Alabaster Academy but won't talk about it. The purpose of the Loyal Order was to pull inigenious pranks. He did mention that there is a book, The Disreputable History of the Loyal Order of the Bassets, which he and his friends hid before graduation so that it wouldn't all into the wrong hands. The even wrote a song about it in order to allow the next Bassets to find the book.

Now attending Alabaster herself, her boyfriend is also a member of the Loyal Order but won't admit to it. He cancels dates with her to meet with Alpha who is co-king of the Loyal Order along with Matthew. Frankie is not happy about the situation.

Frankie's interest is piqued. She vows to find the book. In addition, an opportunity arises when Alpha is forced to go away for Halloween. She decides to 'become' Alpha, via email, and direct the Halloween prank. It turns out better than the original prank planned by the Bassets.

Frankie's pranks get better and better. They include Honor the Ladies (bras on paintings and the library dome), Doggies in the Window (of the old gym), Night of a Thousand Dogs (dogs lined up from the dorm to a hydrant), Abduction of the Guppy and Canned Beef Rebellion (VAPID-Vegetable _________) (in which she rebelled against an alum who owned a canned vegetable company, whose products replaced the fresh salad by have a vegetable platter in the shape of a Basset brought during one of her speeches). ( )

(This review is based on my personal reading of the book, as well as listening to the audio book.)

If you are looking for an inspiring book for girls with strong feminine role models, or an enjoyable light YA read, leave this one one the shelf and keep looking.

The protagonist, Frankie, is supposed to come across as a feminist who wants to be respected as a person rather than dismissed because of her sex; however, she becomes obsessed with control and loses sight of the goals of her actions. She really isn't a feminist at all, but an insecure and overlooked teen girl who craves power and popularity. She is actually a very shallow person, and has a very annoyingly childish speech habit that really distracts from the story. She also belittles her roommate for choosing to pursue feminine activities that she enjoys rather than pretending to enjoy drinking beer and partying with guys. I would feel differently if Frankie's feelings were resolved in the end, but in this case they are not-- Frankie is still the same power- and popularity-hungry person in the end, and doesn't seem to have learned her lesson. This book had the opportunity to teach teen girls to be yourself, value friends who appreciate you for who you are, and avoid wasting time on people who don't care about your true talents and abilities. It really missed the mark, instead leaving Frankie still bitter about her loss of popularity yet happy that people noticed what she was capable of (orchestrating ingenious pranks), regardless of the fact that they now despise her.

Additionally, the dialog and language of the teen boys in the story does not ring true at all. As another reviewer mentioned, the word "grodie" is overused, as are the words "nimrod" and "freaking." The reader of the audio book actually pronounced it as written, saying "freaking," which sounds very unnatural. In my experience, most teens do not use such tame language in everyday conversation. While I'm glad the author didn't feel the need to pepper the dialog with curse words, a few carefully chosen words would have been useful, just to allow the language to seem more believable. None of the characters are particularly likeable, besides maybe Frankie's roommate Trish, though she makes few appearances in the novel. Frankie herself is especially unlikeable, as is her boyfriend Matthew and all his friends. It's ironic that Frankie is always complaining about being seen as Matthew's arm candy, since the only apparent reason she likes him is because he is cute and popular. Frankie only likes him because he connects her to his friends and elevates her social status, yet she is angry because he only likes her for her perceived femininity and outer beauty. Talk about a double standard...

I think there are some very good books out there with characters teens can relate to and admire. This book is not one of them. I really do not understand all the glowing reviews and awards... ( )

A quick glance at this YA book might give you the misleading idea that this is just a story about a cute high school sophomore, Frankie (Francis), who manages to snag a “gorgeous” senior boyfriend, Matthew, thereby acquiring status and happiness all at once. But this simple premise belies a more complex reality. Frankie may be quite physically appealing, but she wants to be appreciated for more than just her looks. She chafes at being considered simple and sweet and inconsequential.

In the summer prior to her sophomore year, a lot happens to Frankie. Most significantly, she “fills out” and becomes attractive to the opposite sex. At the beach, she flirts with a boy who seems to like her. When school starts, she finds out he is one of the most popular boys, known as Alpha (for "top dog"), but he pretends not to know her. His best friend, however, the previously mentioned gorgeous Matthew, notices the newly nubile Frankie right away and becomes her boyfriend. Alpha isn’t helpful; he might be jealous, but more importantly, he sees Frankie as a threat to the hold he has over his group of male friends.

Frankie sets out to prove to them that she can be a valuable member of the crowd; that she is more than just ornamentation. But she runs up against barriers she never expected. One surprising discovery is that the guys don’t really care if Frankie has a bunch of ideas that are more clever than anything they can make up; when the guys get together, they are more interested in the male bonding for itself than the nature of what they actually do together. It’s a barrier she simply can’t pierce.

Frankie doesn’t want to “win” by being a sexy babe. She wants to win by virtue of her heart, brains and courage. But she would be better off hanging out with the Tin Man, Scarecrow, and Lion and heading off to Oz, where only magic can break through the reality of socialization and perhaps ingrained species adaptational behavior.

It is not only Frankie’s family who still thinks of her as “Bunny Rabbit.” And it is not only in fiction that stereotypical roles linger. The popularity of "Grease" is a case in point. (In 1979 "Grease" took over the record as the longest-running show in the history of Broadway and the hit film starring John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John proved to be the highest-grossing movie musical ever.) "Pretty Woman" (sometimes known as "Pretty Sexist") in which the prostitute with heart of gold is transformed into Cinderella and rescued by a handsome corporate prince, has grossed an estimated box office total of over US$450 million as of March, 2010, making it the most successful romantic comedy of all time.

But some women, like young Frankie, believe there is more to life than being a “bunny rabbit.” Frankie didn’t want to be cuddly. And she desperately wanted respect. But she didn’t want the respect that came just from being the girlfriend of a cute senior. At the same time, she was envious of what Matthew and his male friends had that was conferred on them not by inner worth, but simply by gender and class:

"Expensive clothes and high status had little effect on Frankie. But their money and popularity made life extremely easy for Matthew, Dean, Alpha, and Callum. They did not need to impress anyone and were therefore remarkably free from snarkiness, anxiety, and irksome aspirational behaviors, such as competition over grands and evaluation of one another’s clothing. They were not afraid to break the rules, because consequences rarely applied to them. They were free. They were silly. They were secure."

Frankie needs to figure out what she really wants. And she has to decide what to do when she finally figures that what Matthew likes her for being “a smaller, younger person that he was, with no social power.” If it is only by acting a role that she can get the respect and freedom she craves, but it’s not the kind of respect to which she aspires, what are her choices? And how will her decision affect how she feels about herself and her future?

Evaluation: Excellent book for young girls (and all the older girls who used to be young girls). Lots and lots of material for discussion. ( )

Reviewed by Mrs. Foley

Frankie Landau-Banks attempts to take over a secret, all-male society at her exclusive prep school, and her antics with the group soon draw some unlikely attention and have unexpected consequences that could change her life forever. - from library catalog record

Gateway nominee for 2010-2011.

Review from School Library Journal:
Frankie Landau-Banks has always been underestimated. After spending her childhood as a bright but sheltered ugly duckling, she begins sophomore year at her elite boarding school as a swan, catching the attention of senior Matthew Livingston. Frankie is ecstatic, particularly when she learns that he is the leader of the Loyal Order of the Basset Hounds, an all-male secret society. She spends most of her time with Matthew and his friends but soon realizes that no matter how smart or funny she may be, she will never truly be a part of the group, simply because she is a girl. This frustrates her to no end. In a remarkable turn of events, Frankie takes control and begins to direct the Bassets, through email, in a series of elaborate school pranks, revitalizing the Order and the student body as well. These ingenious pranks embody the vigor of Frankie's personality, making social commentary on everything from the school's lack of female leadership to its disgusting cafeteria salad bar. Lockhart has created a layered and engrossing story that is as smart and quick as Frankie, combining the thrilling prospect of how she will get caught with her earnest attempts to understand what it means to be an outsider, an underdog, and in love. An empowered female hero like Frankie is a rare and refreshing find. She is the ultimate feminist role model for teens: a girl with guts and imagination who's brave enough to take on the "old boy's club." ( )