The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks

Lockhart, E. (2009). The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks. NY: Disney-Hyperion. Fifteen-year-old Frankie Landau-Banks is the protagonist in The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks. In the novel, Frankie begins to date senior Matthew Livingston, and wants to become like Matthew and his Hounds, lighthearted pranksters full of mischief. When Alpha rejects her, Frankie creates a fake e-mail and impersonates Alpha, telling the other Hounds to carry out several pranks while Alpha is gone. The novel ends with Frankie confessing to the pranks Alpha is accused of doing. For this, Matthew breaks up with Frankie, but Frankie sees Matthew’s break-up as a positive if he can not accept her for who she is. I think the intended audience for The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks is for ages 13 and up. Recommendations for follow up reading include We Were Liars by E. Lockhart, On the Jellicoe Road by Melina Marchetta, Story of a Girl by Sara Zarr, Like It Never Happened by Emily Adrian, and How to Be Bad by Sarah Mlyonwski. I think The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks meets the social developmental criteria because Frankie wants to be fit in with a group of pranksters whom she envies. When Frankie is not initiated into the Hounds, she goes as far as to impersonating the leader because she wants to fit in with her boyfriend. Frankie even accepts her boyfriend breaking off their relationship because she is happier without someone who does not accept her. All of this results in some of her classmates parsing her while others evade her.