Common Sense Media Review
Boarding school rebel story more insightful than most.
Parents Need to Know
Why Age 14+?
Any Positive Content?
Where to Read
What's the Story?
Frankie Landau-Banks starts her sophomore year of high school at an elite boarding school with the benefit of a newly curvaceous body that gets her noticed by boys. She starts to wonder, though, if getting attention for her "Ladies" is really that much better than being ignored as she was the previous year. Frankie wants boys to admire her devious mind -- and when she discovers her hot boyfriend is a member of the school's secret society, the Loyal Order of the Basset Hounds, she decides to prove she's not a harmless "bunny rabbit" anymore. Armed with the society's Disreputable History notebook, she pulls off some of the school's most notorious pranks. But is leading the gang worth losing her boyfriend?
Is It Any Good?
As a boarding school fable, THE DISREPUTABLE HISTORY OF FRANKIE LANDAU-BANKS works pretty well. As a grrrl power social manifesto, not so much. Lockhart seems to be grasping for a Message -- she throws in class lectures, P.G. Wodehouse, and one of Frankie's papers on the Cacophony Society -- but never follows through with Frankie actually doing anything that matters. An omniscient narrator informs readers of Frankie's deviousness, but Frankie's achievements are putting bras on school portraits, sitting at the senior table when she's a sophomore (gasp), and making up words (a self-conscious, albeit whimsical, mannerism that undermines her insistence that people take her seriously).
Enjoy this for its clever dialog (a New York boy insists any pizza outside city limits be renamed a DOD -- disk of dough), elaborate pranks, and occasional psychological insights. By the end, though, readers may feel like that boy eating a non-New York pizza: not quite satisfied.
Talk to Your Kids About ...
Families can talk about the Frankie's idea of the panopticon -- what unwritten social rules do they follow at home, work, and school? Is there a social value to public displays like dressing as clowns to ride a bus? Do readers agree that Matthew doesn't really "see" Frankie? Is what she did the best way to go about getting a boyfriend or girlfriend to know who you really are?
Book Details
- Author :
- Genre : Literary Fiction
- Book type : Fiction
- Publisher : Hyperion Books for Children
- Publication date : March 25, 2008
- Number of pages : 345
- Last updated : July 15, 2015
Did we miss something on diversity?
Research shows a connection between kids' healthy self-esteem and positive portrayals in media. That's why we've added a new "Diverse Representations" section to our reviews that will be rolling out on an ongoing basis. You can help us help kids by
Suggest an Update
Common Sense Media's unbiased ratings are created by expert reviewers and aren't influenced by the product's creators or by any of our funders, affiliates, or partners.
See how we rate