The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks by E. Lockhart

Author: E. Lockhart
Genre: Coming of Age, Drama
Rating: 7
Teach-ability: 6
Teachable Aspects: Connections to other texts, characters, setting

This tale with the very long title follows the sophomore year of high school of Frankie Landau-Banks as she tries to infiltrate the patriarchal Alabaster Prep School society. Starting her sophomore year of school, Frankie has changed drastically over the summer, from lanky, geeky and invisible to attention grabbing with a new attitude and big plans in mind. With the addition of Frankie's secretive new senior boyfriend, Frankie acquires an interest for the secretive Basset Hound Society on campus; an exclusive and secret all male club on campus.

I started out this book slow. I'm not sure if I expected more from the book, but after reading I have to say that I really enjoyed reading this book. The main character Frankie is full of spunk and large aspirations, something that was really well constructed and that, as a reader, I really respected. I think that Frankie struggles with a lot of the same issues that many girls struggle with, as far as finding where they fit in, striving to be better and living with the girl and boy dynamic. Frankie's struggles are eloquently portrayed in the book. Although I would dub her as naive, I think that I misjudged Frankie for a large portion of the book because for a lot of the novel she seemed so much smarter and more mature than a 15 year old girl.

I really liked the second half of the book and for me it read a lot quicker than the first half. I really liked the notion of society, conspiracies and the scheming done by Frankie. I think the change in her character from thinking about changes and actually completing those changes evolve her character immensely. By the end of the book Frankie's character has changed drastically socially, intellectually and psychologically from the beginning of the school year, and at the beginning of the school year it is clear that Frankie has changed drastically physically since her freshman year. All work together to create a very tangible character.

In the end I really enjoyed reading this book. I would definitely recommend it to anyone in search of a book containing different school societies and viewpoints, and a strong female character.