Frankie & Bug

I'm calling this historical fiction because it does an excellent job of showing how so many kids in the 1980s didn't know anything about the LGBTQ community or HIV/AIDS or how racism really operates. It was pretty easy for our parents to keep us in the dark because we didn't have the internet and American culture at the time was complicit in pretending these things didn't exist or that kids shouldn't know about them. (Obviously, there are still sub-cultures in the US that continue to work very hard to keep kids in the dark, but most kids now have much more access to information.)

Anyway, I loved this book so much. I'm just going to list some things I appreciated about it:

Every character felt real enough to touch.

I am already/always a show more big fan of the How I Spent My Summer Vacation genre. The serial killer search gave the plot momentum, but summer books have a natural narrative arc because we know that summer can't last forever.

I loved the Venice Beach setting. I've been to Venice once and it brought it back to my mind vividly.

Thematically this book is super relevant to the 2020s without putting anachronistic words into the mouths of 1980s characters. Again, what was so powerful to me about this book was the way it shows both how much things have changed and how they're still the same. Kids are more knowledgeable and empowered now, but I think they will still empathize with Bug's desire to know more and to show that she deserves to know more.

So this book just jumped to my #1 Newbery hope for 2022. My only hesitation is that I don't think Gayle Forman is LGBTQ or Latinx, which isn't part of the Newbery criteria, but still weighs on my mind when I think about representation. The POV character is a cis white-passing girl, but the experiences of her brother (who is Latino) and her LGBTQ friends are a huge part of the book. show less

Bug feels like her brother's need for "space" is going to for sure ruin her summer. She wants to spend the summer at Venice Beach, not at crummy camp or staying with her neighbors. When Frankie comes to visit his uncle for the summer, she assumes he's been brought to keep her company. Bug learns a lot over this summer. She's curious, accepting, and learns that the world isn't the black and white place she thought it was and there are shades of gray.
Frankie and Bug start investigating the Midnight Marauder together. Eventually Frankie shares some of his reality about life in Ohio and his trans identity, even if he doesn't have a name for it yet. When Frankie's Uncle Phillip is hospitalized after he's attacked, the two switch the focus show more of their investigation. They discover the reason he was beaten wasn't because he was mugged as they are told at first, but because he's attacked for being gay. It's 1987 and the AIDs epidemic is happening.
A slow start, this book turned into this touching story of love, acceptance, allyship, and quest for justice & change. show less

This novel begins in 1987 in Venice Beach, California. Ten-year-old Beatrice “Bug” Contreras is upset to find out that her 14-year-old brother Daniel no longer wants to hang out with *her* all summer - he has more "grown-up" interests now and needs “space.” This development was doubly punishing for Bug, who loved hanging out with her brother and loved the beach, but wasn’t allowed to go by herself. She resented Danny mightily for it, and protested to her mom it wasn’t fair, but as her mother always pointed out to her, “Life isn’t fair. The most you can hope for is that it’s just.”

Then she found out that 11-year old Frankie was coming from Ohio to spend the summer with his Uncle Phillip, who was Bug’s upstairs show more neighbor. Bug thought perhaps Frankie could fill Daniel's role for Bug, but Frankie didn’t seem much interested in the beach. Rather, Frankie rather was focused on helping to find out the identity of the "Midnight Marauder," a mysterious serial killer in the area. In fact, it seemed to Bug she had nothing in common with Frankie, but they were destined to spend the summer together, and Bug had to learn to adjust. Why didn’t Frankie agree to like what Bug liked? How could Frankie not? Part of that adjustment was coming to understand the world didn’t revolve around her and her interests and wishes.

Bug faced other problems that summer. The Contreras family, made up of Mama, Bug, and Danny, was mixed-race - at least the kids were; their mother was white, but their father had been Salvadoran. The skinheads on the beach only saw brown skin, and called them “Mexican monkeys,” especially Danny, who looked more like his father than Bug did.

(Bug both resented that Danny looked more like him, but also was glad she didn’t. All her feelings were confused. Her father, about whom she heard so much, had died in a car accident seven weeks before she was born. “That,” Bug thought, “was a kind of unfair that hurt too much to speak of.”)

The skinheads also threatened Mama in a sexually abusive way. Bug hated them, but Mama said she felt sorry for them:

“People who need to exert force to make themselves feel strong are weak. They’re scared people who need to scare people. It’s pretty pathetic when you think about it.”

And there seemed to be secrets everywhere to which Bug was not privy. Something bad happened to Phillip - no one would tell her what - and Mama needed to stay in his apartment to help him. Mama’s sister arrived to take care of Bug and Frankie, albeit begrudgingly. Bug knew everyone was hiding something, and part of that had to do with the history of her family.

Bug finally learned the truth about all the mysteries surrounding her. The most important things she found out though, were that stereotypes had nothing to do with the complexity of human beings, and that family is better defined as those who love and care for you, rather than those who are just related by blood. Or as Lin-Manuel Miranda would say, love is love is love is love.

Evaluation: I was not disappointed at all in this charming coming-of-age middle grade debut by Forman. It is designated for kids 9-12, but I loved it, and would recommend it for all readers. As a bonus, the depiction of Venice Beach, California in the late 1980s captures precisely that moment in time and what it was like. show less

These two characters come across so naturally, they could be waiting for the reader on the doorstep and invite them for a day of friendship and fun.

Bug is ten and not exactly happy, since her favorite part of every year is falling flat thanks to her brother, who wants more space from her. Yep, her brother and that hurts. When she accidentally suggests staying at home as the best alternative, she's even less excited to learn she'll be spending time with the neighbor's relative, Frankie, a kid none of them have ever met, and a person, who has their very own reasons why they don't quite fit in. But this isn't the only issue as a serial murderer combs the city, gangs cause issues and more.

Set in the 1980's, this book takes a look at a time show more before cell phones and internet...allowing the life of Bug and Frankie to evolve in a world, which really centers on the world around them. Bug is a very normal girl, who isn't pleased to learn that her favorite vacation spot has been cancelled because her brother has gotten older (14) and wants his space. From her. This sibling and family dynamic, and that set with just a mother raising two kids, is already a theme in and of itself, but the author adds so much more. Wonderful neighbors and many outside issues give it depth and more than a little food for thought.

The arrival of Frankie, with his/her oddities, and the later forming friendship lay at the heart of this story and show how amazing friendship can be. The theme of acceptance and individuality is very clear as well. But the wholesome messages meld with more troublesome and even dangerous plot lines to create an intriguing tale, which does have the reader more than curious what the end will bring. A serial murderer is on the loose, Bug's mother is working hard on it in the mayor's office, and the local gangs and such also make life more than difficult. That's not even including the gun shot noises Bug hears every now and then. So, this is more than a calm, emotional tale of friendship.

All of this is woven into a very, well-told story. The writing is more than smooth and allows the world to come to life. The characters, especially the neighbor named Phillip, carry wonderful attributes and quirks, which make them hard not to like. Some of the problems pop-up a little out of nowhere in the scenes, but it does keep suspense higher too. I received an ARC and found this very well done show less

Set in Venice Beach, California, in 1987, this is the story of ten-year-old white/Salvadoran Frankie, whose older brother Danny's - Daniel's - need for space is ruining their summer. A replacement is brought in from Ohio: Frankie, their upstairs neighbor Phillip's nephew. But Frankie proves disappointing to Bug as well - he doesn't like the beach! However, the two work together to solve the case of the Midnight Marauder, a serial killer at loose in LA.

Bug also begins to unravel some closer-to-home mysteries, like why the idea of her mom marrying Phillip is laughable, why she and Daniel never see their grandparents, and the real reason Frankie doesn't want to go to the beach. Some of what Bug discovers is ugly: Mama's parents kicked her show more out when she married an El Salvadoran man, and when he died, they tried to get her to give Daniel up because of his darker skin color. Phillip is beat up by skinheads because he is gay. Their downstairs neighbor and landlord, Hedvig, is a Hungarian refugee. And Frankie, despite having the same "private parts" as Bug, is a boy.

The inside flap cover makes no mention of the time period, so it took me some time to realize the book was set in the late '80s. The inhabitants of Venice Beach are described lovingly and colorfully, and Frankie is an easy character to root for and empathize with.

Back matter: Acknowledgements, Resource, Author's Note

See also: All the Greys on Greene Street, Trowbridge Road, The Parker Inheritance

Quotes

To look at her now, you would never guess....Maybe that was true of lots of people. (130)

She was realizing you didn't always have to say the things you thought. (150-151)

"So you get it."
"Get what?"
"What it's like for people to be mad at you," Frankie said, "just for being you." (184)

"Oh, folks don't need a reason. Old as time to beat on what you don't understand." (Flo to Bug and Frankie, 206)

[transsexual] "So there is a word for it."
"Oh, honey, there's a word for everything on God's green earth. And if there isn't, we can just make one up." (207)

The kind of scared people who became scary people. (228)

But Frankie sounded so very sad, like he too understood that there were some things you just did not want to know. (229) show less

I loved this story…the fact that it takes place in the 80s and shines a light on violence against the LGBTQ community, fear of the unknown with the AIDS epidemic and identity is a book ahead of its time. I wish there was a book like this when I was growing up in the 80s. The author touches on finding one’s identity, acceptance, friendship and family.

It’s 1987 and Bug’s life is about to change. Every summer Bug gets to hang out with her big brother, Danny, at the beach in Venice where they live. But not this summer. This summer Danny wants to be called Daniel, lift weights and hang out with his own friends at Muscle Beach. Bug is stuck at home most of the time until Frankie comes to visit their neighbor, who is his gay uncle. show more Frankie and Bug do not hit it off right away. The only thing they seem to have in common is their search of the Midnight Marauder, a serial killer who is on the loose. Through this shared interest Bug and Frankie grow close enough for Frankie to share his secret: he wasn’t born a male and his family sent him to California from Ohio for the summer to “get it out of his system”. This MG book explores what it’s like to not be able to share who you are with the world. show less

This was such a touching and heartfelt book that not only explores what it means to be a true family, but digs a little deeper into the tougher topics that can be hard for adults, let alone kiddos, to breach. I loved how the author didn't hold any punches, but was gentle for the sake of being so. I love how when the big reveals happen, Bug was just so open, so clear minded, so filled with love that the choice of hatred or fear really didn't have a hope of survival. I love that different cultures were explored, different lifestyles were revealed, and prejudices exposed, all while reminding us how so many of those feelings and at the very least what we do with them is entirely up to us. We can let our fear, or distaste rule our thoughts, show more or we can ask questions, seek understanding, and realize that everyone should feel safe BEING WHO THEY ARE. No one deserves to be treated as less than because of their skin color, heritage, lifestyle, or any other arbitrary reason. Bug's mom said it best...


"Life isn't fair...the most you can hope for is that it's just..."


Will YOU be that voice for justice? Will YOU take a stand for those that can't? Will YOU stand tall when someone you know and love is at risk? All hard choices, but all things that can lead to the change in the world we need to see.

Frankie & Bug is an amazing story perfect for Middle Grade readers and beyond. You'll fall in love with the characters, want to be a part of their unorthodox family, and you know what? I believe if we showed up in Venice out of the blue, any of this fabulous crew would be waiting with open arms. Read it for yourself. Read it for those in your tribe. Read it for the wonderful story it is and the messages it contains. Read it to get outside your head and into the hearts of others, and then spread that understanding, that openness, that acceptance to all within your reach. Read it because you hope for a better tomorrow and are willing to reach for it today.


**copy received for review; opinions are my own show less