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 her ex-boyfriend shows up in the strangest of places.
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, 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.  

Customer Rating:
Summary: This book makes me gruntled
Comment: Frankie is about to start her sophomore year at Alabaster Prep School. A few things have changed for Frankie: her older sister has graduated and moved on to Berkeley; she's no longer seeing Porter, her first boyfriend; and Frankie has become a knockout over the summer. When Matthew Livingston, one of the most popular seniors, finally notices and takes an interest in her, Frankie is thrilled. But although Matthew finds her adorable and pretty, Frankie wants him to see her as an equal, as a force to be reckoned with. It isn't long before Frankie begins to mastermind some of the most elaborate pranks ever performed on campus, all carried out by the secret, all-male Order of the Loyal Basset Hounds. If only they knew who was giving them orders.

I can't say how much I loved this book. The writing is clever, the story is fun, Frankie is a character you can't resist, there's a little philosophy and a lot of feminism in the mix, and a library is made to look like a giant boob. What's not to like? I think many girls/women who read this will share Frankie's frustrations - being underestimated, being told how to look and act, and the fear of being shut out just based on gender. It's not necessarily a tidy story, though I think I assumed a high-school prank book was going to be. But it's a story I definitely recommend.


This book left me very gruntled.

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Customer Rating:
Summary: Disreputable Frankie
Comment: First of all, I appreciate that this book had a girl-power theme, but I do not think the main character, Frankie, is a good representation of an admirable woman. Although she was intelligent and competative, she was the worst stereotype of a jealous, conniving, sneaky b----. I thought she made girls look totally bad. She was jealous that her boyfriend was in a secret all-male social club, and was insulted that she wasn't invited and that he wouldn't tell her about it. Frankie, it's a secret boys club! Start your own secret girl's club! that's my opinion. She was so annoying. If a character said something like, for example, "Boys are more agressive than girls because of their testosterone" which is true, right? (I personally believe there wouldn't be any wars if there weren't any men), she jumped all over them with a smart rebuttal. Her boyfriend couldn't even call her adorable or give her his shirt to wear without arising the questions: is he marking his territory, or does he love her for her mind? These might be good questions, but the problem I have is, I did not buy that Frankie was in love with Matthew at all, even though the book said she was; the book did not acknowledge any such thing as chemistry between them. Frankie was all sore that Matthew's buddies had higher status with him than she did; how DARE he put them before her when she's been going out with him for THREE WHOLE MONTHS! OMG! Maybe another reason I didn't connect with Frankie was the brisk tone in which the story was written. It was chronicled with a hip, journalistic brevity. My last thoughts: guys love to do guy things. They will play video games and watch sports til the end of time, and ignore their women while doing it; what's wrong with that? Frankie, ironically, seemed so needy. She went about making her point by breaking a lot of rules, and really, it was just to get the boy's attention.

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Customer Rating:
Summary: Yes. Rebel.
Comment: Some are turned off by the subtle (or not so) feminist undertones in The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks. I am not. Why? Because I think it's new information to Frankie, and let's be honest, the intended audience, and because the info was given in annoying lectures by Frankie's older sister. Was her older sister simply a tool for that purpose and not fleshed out enough beyond that? There, you may have an argument, but in the context, I'm ok with it. What with sis off at college, and Frankie at the swank school alone for the first time - she makes her own interpretation of the feminist ideal. A funny, clever, action-prone, make-you-want-to-cheer interpretation.

Frankie's dad was a member of the Secret Order of the Basset Hounds. She's known OF them, but they've never been anything more than a name to her, what with them being a secret society and all. But the summer between freshman and sophomore year Frankie grew up. She goes back to her swanky and competitive boarding school a total knockout. And now people notice her. Now the most popular boy at school notices her. When the call goes out recruiting new Basset Hounds (all boys) and she begins to suspect that her boyfriend is the leader of the pack (vroom-vroom), Frankie decides she will show them that Girls are just as good as boys. Even if it means she has to go behind all of the boys' backs.

Favorite quote:

"...Frankie remembered how Matthew had called her a 'pretty package,' how he'd called her mind little, how he'd told her not to change -- as if he had some power over her. A tiny part of her wanted to go over to him and shout, 'I can feel like a hag some days if I want! And I can tell everybody how insecure I am if I want! Or I can be pretty and pretend to think I'm a hag out of fake modesty -- I can do that if I want, too. Because you, Livingston, are not the boss of me and what kind of girl I become.' But most of her simply felt happy that he had put his arm around her and told her he thought she was pretty" p 79-80.

Notice something a little different with that bit? It's 3rd person omniscient. It's unusual to find it in teen novels, and it lend an equally unusual, almost voyeuristic, tone to the title. There's a touch of distance between the reader and, well. Remember those nature movies Disney used to make? The narration in Frankie sometimes reminded me of those. It absolutely works, in fact, it makes it stand out. I also adore the duality of desire there - she wants to be recognized as an independent woman while still getting to be told she's pretty. All girls, no matter what, want to hear they are pretty once in a while. All girls should demand both.

It shoots out to the front when we speak of my favorite of E. Lockhart's (displacing Dramarama - though I've not read Fly on the Wall, and that's frequently other people's favs. According to my sources.).


Will there be a sequel? I don't know, but it wouldn't surprise me. There's definitely an open window. I'd read it. I think it will appeal to the general girl audience, but especially to those who like Ally Carter's Gallagher Girls books.

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Customer Rating:
Summary: A Wonderful Book with Admirable Characters
Comment: I really enjoyed this book, and the way the author had intellectual characters throughout. The main character, Frankie, is a feminist who does not like being left out of the club that her boyfriend and his friends belong to. The book is both funny and empowering, and it is very enjoyable to read.

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Customer Rating:
Summary: An author who knows teens aren't stupid!
Comment: I got this book at the library but almost didn't start reading it. I barely look in the YA section of my library anymore, but lately, i've been finding myself heading over there. Well, I was quite impressed with this one. I've never read this author before, but I certainly will in the future!
Frankie Landau-Banks is a slightly geeky teenager attending an expensive private school. But the summer after freshman year, she grows up and becomes attractive enough to catch the eye of Matthew Livingston, one of the school's most popular guys.
I know it sounds predictable, but keep reading. Matthew is part of a secret society- a secret society that he refuses to tell Frankie about. So Frankie takes matters into her own hands, infiltrating the secret society, the Order of the Basset Hounds.
I did not like the way Matthew treated Frankie- he acted like she belonged to him and that she was too stupid to understand anything. However, I realize that's just his character. This book was refreshing, and it ended on a slightly mysterious note, so I hope perhaps the author is open to sequels. Greatly recommended!

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