Be Frank With Me

Be Frank With Me by Julia Claiborne Johnson

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


Nine year old Frank Banning is an unusual boy who doesn’t exactly fit in with the other kids. He has odd social characteristics and a propensity for dressing in vintage clothing, and is forever reciting facts about old movies, old movie stars, and any number of popular trivia from eras past. His mother, Mimi Banning, is a reclusive author whose only published book is a classic (a la Harper Lee) but due to her losing her money in a Ponzi scheme, is forced to write a long overdue follow up.

This is where Alice Whitely enters the picture. Sent by Mimi Banning’s publisher, it is her job to do whatever Mimi needs to get the book done. In this case, it is taking care of Frank, which is not an east job and is not for everyone. But after a rough start, Alice forms a real bond with Frank. But Frank does not fit in with the kids at school, and is largely misunderstood by the other adults in charge of his care.

Debut novel from Julia Claiborne Johnson contains elements of the movie Stranger than Fiction (I’ve been making that reference a lot lately) and Nick Hornby’s About a Boy. I read this book in three days out of necessity(had to return to the library), but even had this not been the case it still would have been the type of book that one can burn through. Very, very good.






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