The Franny K. Stein series by Jim Benton, consisting of 6 books, is a fun read for all elementary school age kids. It appeals to both male and females, as well as reluctant readers and book lovers alike. Zach picked the first one up at a school book fair when he was 8-9 yrs old and we've been Franny fans ever since. Even though the vocabulary was advanced for my boys, it hasn't deterred my boys from ploughing through each book and waiting anxiously for the next one to hit the shelves.
Franny's conflict is that she's a girl. A girl living in a bright and cheery pink house with lovely purple shutters on Daffodil Street. The trouble is there is nothing bright or cheery or lovely about Franny. She's a little girl mad scientist with a spooky, creepy bedroom/laboratory, complete with bats, snakes and spiders, where she builds and creates all kinds of crazy-clever concoctions like zero-gravity dog food and cannibalistic broccoli.
At the beginning of the series Franny is completely misunderstood at her new school. None of the other kids can understand why a girl wouldn't want to play with pretty dolls and eat peanut butter sandwiches. With the help of her new teacher, Miss Shelly, (gotta love that) Franny thinks of an experiment to try to fit in, which results in a totally transformed Franny, a sweet Franny with adorable shoes and cute hair. Thank goodness, in the end, after a whole lot of catastrophe, Franny learns to be herself.
Besides the smart, witty story line there are two things I love about this series: First, the spunky illustrations, also created by Benton, serve as the punch lines to the jokes. They finish Benton's sentences with a smirk. Second, there is a subtle (never heavy handed) moral to each story. Benton knows how to give ordinary conflicts and lessons an extrordinary twist.
If you can't tell, I highly recommend this series.
Franny's conflict is that she's a girl. A girl living in a bright and cheery pink house with lovely purple shutters on Daffodil Street. The trouble is there is nothing bright or cheery or lovely about Franny. She's a little girl mad scientist with a spooky, creepy bedroom/laboratory, complete with bats, snakes and spiders, where she builds and creates all kinds of crazy-clever concoctions like zero-gravity dog food and cannibalistic broccoli.
At the beginning of the series Franny is completely misunderstood at her new school. None of the other kids can understand why a girl wouldn't want to play with pretty dolls and eat peanut butter sandwiches. With the help of her new teacher, Miss Shelly, (gotta love that) Franny thinks of an experiment to try to fit in, which results in a totally transformed Franny, a sweet Franny with adorable shoes and cute hair. Thank goodness, in the end, after a whole lot of catastrophe, Franny learns to be herself.
Besides the smart, witty story line there are two things I love about this series: First, the spunky illustrations, also created by Benton, serve as the punch lines to the jokes. They finish Benton's sentences with a smirk. Second, there is a subtle (never heavy handed) moral to each story. Benton knows how to give ordinary conflicts and lessons an extrordinary twist.
If you can't tell, I highly recommend this series.
1 comment:
Hi Franny,
I grew up as a reluctant reader. Now I write action-adventures & mysteries, especially for boys 8 and up, that kids hate to put down. My web site is at http://www.maxbooks.9k.com and my Books for Boys blog is at http://booksandboys.blogspot.com I also have a short story in a new book called LAY UPS and LONG SHOTS, published by Darby Creek Publishers.
My other books are all ranked by Accelerated Reader
Max Elliot Anderson
NEWSPAPER CAPER, TERROR AT WOLF LAKE, NORTH WOODS POACHERS, MOUNTAIN CABIN MYSTERY, BIG RIG RUSTLERS, SECRET OF ABBOTT'S CAVE, & LEGEND OF THE WHITE WOLF are compared by readers and reviewers to Tom Sawyer, The Hardy Boys, Huck Finn, Nancy Drew, Harry Potter, Tom Swift, Scooby-Doo, Lemony Snicket, and adventure author Jack London.
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