Favorite Series: Frankly, Frannie

Frankly, Frannie: Funny Businessby A.J. Stern
illustrated by Doreen Mulryan Marts
Penguin, 2010
review copy purchased for my classroom library

Franki turned me on to this series last year. Frannie is a great character who is easy to love. She's dying to be grown up, and so she carries her briefcase, resume, and business cards wherever she goes, and she's always on the lookout for a job to try out.

In this book, Frannie and her parents are going to Florida, "where it's summer all the time!" For her father, it's a business trip, and Frannie is going to get to go to "Princessland."

At least once in every book, Frannie either misunderstands directions (or doesn't hear them in the first place), or does what she thinks is right in a situation...with disastrous results. The first Frannie moment in this book has to do with room service and the second happens when Frannie is helping her father at his conference. You just have to shake your head and marvel at Frannie's parents' patience. Things always turn out in the end, and through it all, Frannie has a really good heart.

Why I love this series:
1. Frannie's made up words (confusified -- when Frannie's parents saw the room service, hundredteen -- the number of silver platters, scoldish -- Frannie's mom's tone of voice).
2. Frannie's attitude towards work -- every job, every career sounds like the most fun ever.
3. Frannie's parents -- the most patient parents in the world!