Introducing Grandad Frank – a real class act

The Frank Show by David Mackintosh(HarperCollins, 2012)Good to Read for:celebrating grandparentsa longer bedtime storysharing a joke with your childPicture books about grandparents, notes a GoodReads reviewer, are hard to pull off. There is a fine line between heartwarming and way-too-sentimental. (I list some at the end of this article which are well worth sharing with your kids.) The Frank Show by David Mackintosh does it exceptionally well. And reveals that there is more to the older generation than meets the eye.

The story hangs on the teacher’s assignment: talk about a family member at Friday’s show and tell.

‘We can choose one person and talk for one minute, about the things they like and what kind of person they are,’ says our narrator (an unnamed boy). To his dismay, the only person not too busy to talk at home is Frank.

 

But Frank is just a grandad.

Frank always says,

“These days there are too many gadgets and gizmos. I prefer doing things the old-fashioned way.”

 

(Like writing on a Prehistoric-branded typewriter and listening to music on the gramophone. (“They don’t make ’em like that anymore.”) He even has a folding ‘bellows’ camera.)

As the week goes by, the boy grows increasingly concerned about his presentation. He gives his teacher the heads up:

 

Today I told my teacher that Mum was very busy and Dad had a very long day, so the only person left in my family to talk about was Frank, my grandad. She said, “Fabulous!”, but I don’t know about that.

 

And then there’s Frank. (His grandson’s dismay is palpable.)

   

Grandad Frank is such a well-crafted character. Cantankerous and set in his ways, Frank doesn’t like ‘fancy’ food and claims to only need an annual haircut. (‘[H]e doesn’t trust barbers. He says, “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. I can do without their input.”)

Mackintosh couldn’t be accused of being sentimental in his depiction of Grandad Frank. Yes, he’s a caricature of the archetypal old man. But Mackintosh’s observations aren’t cruel. They’re loving. And funny! I remember enjoying it with Levi when he was younger (and caught myself laughing aloud as I revisited it for this review). The illustrations are packed with small, incidental details that make the scenes so believable (especially in the characters’ body language), and the writing is deadpan:

 

[Frank] doesn’t trust doctors as far as he can throw them, which isn’t far on account of his arm.

And one of his hips.

 

Mackintosh’s exuberant and stylised illustrations appear deceptively simple. In one double spread, a playground scene features well-observed characters and many charming, incidental details. Together, they convey deeper meaning and emotion (making this another excellent story to develop a child’s empathy). We learn from the left-hand page that the narrator’s classmates all have exciting people to talk about. (For example, Tom’s uncle (a drummer), Donny’s dad (he ‘works in a crisp factory’) and Hugo’s stepbrother who ‘has a sports car, with an eightball gear knob.’) On the far right of the page, our narrator stands apart from the crowd, alone and melancholy. All he can think about is the impending doom of Friday’s show and tell.

In a smaller (quieter) typeface, he says, My grandad’s arm hurts when it’s about to rain.

   

You can’t help feeling sorry for the kid! He even falls out with his best friend, Tom, who leaves him shamed and red-faced:

 

Tom asked me why I chose Frank for my talk, because Frank’s just a grandad.

I didn’t know what to say.

So now Tom and me aren’t speaking.

 

Even young kids will pick up on the inferred emotions felt by the narrator, thanks to Mackintosh’s well-observed characters and subtle use of colour, language and design. As the day of reckoning looms closer, the boy is illustrated using just sad, grey tones.

   

Finally, it’s the day of show and tell. 

 

In class, everyone is excited.

They have all spoken for a full minute each about a member of their family, even Clive Martin.

 

On one page, the excited rabble enjoys their crisps. (Remember? Donny’s dad works in a crisp factory!)

   

Opposite, our narrator stands alone again. The way he reluctantly introduces Frank speaks volumes – the boy can’t even bring himself to look at his classmates.

He ‘approaches show-and-tell like a prisoner headed for the gallows,’ notes Publishers Weekly, ‘but there’s more to Frank than his grandson realises.’

   

Frank himself may be a caricature of old-timey grandads, but that’s what makes him funny – and totally believable. For the presentation, he’s dressed in his old-fashioned British army uniform, complete with odd socks). Armed with nothing more than a rattan carpet beater and his giant jar of Strong Pickled Onions. 

   

(It reminded me of a photo of my dad and Levi, wearing hats from the American civil war. Levi has a hobby horse. Dad is standing to attention – with a leek!)

After telling them everything he knows about Frank, the boy hides behind his sheet of paper. Everyone is looking straight at him.

   

And that’s when Frank comes into his own and

However, much to the little boy’s surprise, Grandad Frank puts on a show, spinning tales of his wild adventures and dazzling his classmates!

 

Frank begins to tell a story about how he led an army in a charge across a muddy battlefield… 

with bullets 

whistling all around

like African bees…

and captured one hundred enemy soldiers with nothing but his wit and brute force…

and how later…he and his buddies had a green tattoo put on their arms to remember that day.

 

I love the final spread!

   

The excited class are gathered around a table strewn with coloured plastic combs that Frank keeps in his pocket. Our narrator is beaming, sitting beside his grandad. Frank rolls up his sleeve to show off his tattoos. (Sheldon Robe asks if getting a blurry tattoo hurts and Frank winks and says, “You bet it did, hombre.”) The children are enthralled! Gathered around the table, they recall all Frank’s interesting anecdotes: He keeps a real Japanese sword under his bed… He can catch a fly with his bare hand…He has a rubber band ball that is 28 years old…

 

And everybody cheered for my grandad Frank and me.

 

The Frank Show is funny! (And, unusually for a book featuring older people, Frank survives the end of the picture book..!) In his oversize, yellow-tinted spectacles, Frank is ‘a charming homage to grandparents and the art of seeing beneath the grumpy exterior.’ [Brain Pickings] In that respect, The Frank Show is an excellent choice for celebrating and connecting the older generation with their grandkids. 

My own grandad had a grumpy exterior. He talked a bit about his wartime experiences (“What you need, son, is 3 months in the Ardennes…”). What I didn’t discover, until after his death, was that he’d released prisoners from the Nazi concentration camp at Belsen. It would have helped me understand him more – and given me more grace for him. With a bit of luck, this story will encourage children to learn more about their own grandparents’ past.

(My kids are still amazed that, as a young girl, Grandma was strafed by German bombers AND had her tonsils removed on the kitchen table. As for Grandad, he rescued Old Master drawings from the fire at Windsor Castle in 1992.)

But perhaps more importantly, The Frank Show reminds us that the world is made of unique individuals with their own stories to tell. There are unsung heroes everywhere! Grandad Frank’s a curmudgeonly old man. He could just as easily have been a shy child, for example, or an autistic kid – any outsider with hidden interests and life experiences. Scratch away at the surface, and you’ll discover all kinds of interesting facts about people that shape their personalities and behaviours. You just have to take the time to get to know someone – which has got to be a lesson worth sharing with your kids. 

   STORIES WORTH SHARINGThe Frank Show by David Mackintosh(HarperCollins, 2012)Good to Read for:celebrating grandparentsa longer bedtime storysharing a joke with your child  Text excerpts & Illustrations © 2012 by David MackintoshGOOD TO READCelebrating the older generation!

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“Wise and heart-warming” Booktrust

– BookTrust

“A sweet story that proves elderly relatives can be cool after all."

- School Library Journal

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