Frankie Works the Night Shift

by Lisa Westberg Peters, Jennifer Taylor (Illustrator)

While everyone else is busy dreaming . . . Z-z-z-z-z-z . . . Frankie is hard at work, cleaning and scheming. There's no time for rest. Clang!
Splash!
Eeeeeek! But here's a little secret—Frankie really seems to enjoy the night shift. Is he working hard or hardly working? Open this book and decide for yourself. Good job, Frankie!

Genres: Picture Books, Cats, Animals, Counting, Pets, Childrens, Fiction

32 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2010

About the author

Lisa Westberg Peters is a children's author and poet from St. Paul, Minnesota. Her books often have a scientific focus.

Reviews

[Karen A.]

While kids may not get what working the night shift really means they won't really care once Frankie begins his work. Especially when he finds the 'intruder' and chases him all over the shop. Counting to ten is cleverly interwoven into the text but kids will hardly notice as mayhem seems to be Frankies main job. Illustrations are a great combination of photography and graphics which compliment Frankie and his many tasks.

[Jessie Bear]

At a small hardware store, Frankie holds down the storefront while his family sleeps, and in the process of doing so messes up the place. A counting scheme initially sets the story’s pace, as Frankie “cleans two counters” or “calls three meetings.” The pacing continues when he spots a mouse behind six hammers, but devolves into a cat and mouse chase after waking up the nine members of the family. The mouse leaves out the back door, which may be met with mixed audience responses despite the text’s praising him. The stylized computer graphic illustrations are an odd combination of realistic and illustrated which may not be everyone’s taste but brings Frankie to life as a cat the audience can recognize. While some of these realistic images are uneven ranging to silly, it distinguishes the main characters from the background. While the ending may bother some readers, a young listening audience will delight in the family friendly tale of Frankie’s night shift. Frankie is very lovable, and I’d recommend this book to children who delight in stories about animals, especially ones who love cats, and even more so to those of us who have a special place in our hearts for orange cats. Ages 2-5. (Three and a half stars)

[Elisabeth]

I got this book because we have a cat named Frankie who looks a lot like the cat on the cover. It was so silly and they captured cats wonderfully. Great mix of photograph and drawn illustrations. Especially love Frankie climbing the ladders and ignoring his "bosses".

[Tasha]

Frankie the cat, works during the night at the hardware store. Counting from one to ten, he cleans counters, waters plans, climbs ladders, and then spots a mouse! Dashing headlong through the store, he wakes up the entire family who are trying to sleep. By the time he has chased the mouse off the premises, it is almost morning. He may work the night shift, but he naps during the day. So the book ends with ten huge yawns.

Peters writing is straightforward and easy to read aloud. She has created a counting book with plenty of action which is unusual. Additionally, her writing keeps the book from becoming sing-songy because each counting page is phrased differently. Nicely done.

Taylor’s illustrations really take this book to another level. The first pages of the city street had me hunkered over the page and delighting in the small details. Then I had to know what medium she used to create the photographically clear but whimsically created images. Her use of digital photography has created an intriguing look and feel that is never disjointed. Beautifully rendered, I hope to see more from this debut book illustrator.

A counting book filled with gorgeous images and friendly text, this book with its furry and busy main character will delight young readers. Appropriate for ages 3-5.

[Emm Bee]

Oh, my heart is so full for the love of Frankie! What a fantastic book for kid and Mama alike! Frankie is a hardware store cat who does his best to keep order in the wee hours as his humans snooze. The illustrations are gorgeous. They are a mix of photography and computer illustration and are so utterly fantastic and detailed; a joy to look at and use in a game of "I spy." Frankie gets into all sorts of mischief as he chases a mouse throughout the store, counting to ten with tools, ladders, and other hardware store items as he goes about his job as Shop Cat. Rabbit spent the better part of a late afternoon looking at all of the details and asking questions about the tools and doo-dads in the pictures. A hugely fun book!

[Reader]

Frankie the hardware store cat spends his nights the way most cats do -- prowling and protecting his owners from all the dangers that lurk in the night. Along the way might make a little noise, but once he and his owners spot the mouse Frankie spotted hiding behind six hammers, they cheer him on until he's chased it away! So much to love in this book -- the digital photograph/mixed-media collage artwork has a style unlike most recent entries into the picture book scene. At it's most basic, it is a counting book ("He empties one wastebasket. / He cleans two counters.”...) but the detail in the illustrations can easily lead to a game of i-spy. The illustrations might be a little too detailed for a large group, but everyone will love the silly story of Frankie the watch-cat.
~s

[Angie]

Synopsis: "While everyone else is busy dreaming . . .

Z-z-z-z-z-z

. . . Frankie is hard at work, cleaning and scheming. There's no time for rest.

Clang!
Splash!
Eeeeeek!

But here's a little secret—Frankie really seems to enjoy the night shift.

Is he working hard or hardly working? Open this book and decide for yourself.

Good job, Frankie!"

My Review: I originally picked this book up for Munchkin in order to maybe help him understand his dad works nights. This book turned out to be so much more than I expected. It was a cat doing what cats do at night, but also a counting book. I really enjoyed how the images of the animals were more like photos but the rest of the background was illustrations. I think Munchkin really enjoyed it too.

[Kay]

From School Library Journal: "Frankie is a ginger cat who earns his keep in his human family's hardware store at night. Whether emptying one wastebasket to get a fish skeleton, spotting a mouse behind six hammers, or chasing his quarry up and down seven ladders, the apron-clad feline is hard at work... Taylor uses digital photography for the full-color art, with paint cans, scattered nails, and assorted tools lending authenticity to the hardware-store setting. Both Frankie and the mouse appear to be real animals..."

The thing that attracted me to this new picture book is in the incredibly handsome ginger tom on the cover art. How I love an orange cat!

[Susan]

Description: Frankie works the night shift at his families hardware store. Frankie has amazing adventures while everyone else is asleep and he gets a little bit of work done too!

Illustrations: Realistic images of cats, ladders, brooms and other hardware store items.

Themes/keywords: counting, cats, tools, and funny

Literacy skills:
Vocabulary-the story takes place in a hardware store where their are lots of new items for kids to learn about.
Narrative skills-great pictures encourage kids to tell their own story

[Krista the Krazy Kataloguer]

This simply told story describes what Frankie the cat does when he "works" the night shift in the hardware store his people own. You can imagine what his "work" consists of! The illustrations by Jennifer Taylor are SO cute and really make the book. Frankie looks so real that you want to reach into the story and pet him. The mouse is awful cute too--I wanted to pet him as well. The ending of the story is priceless. A must-read for cat lovers!

[Jess Brown]

Great illustrations help tell the story of busy cat Frankie who "works" during the night (but mostly just gets into typical kitty-cat troubles--unintentionally of course!). Not too much text in this one, so it could be good for some as young as older toddlers to preschoolers and early elementary kiddos, too.

[Taylor Wyndham]

Frankie works the night shift is one that is a good read for children learning to read and count. It combines the story of Frankie the hardware cats adventure during the night doing what cats do in chaseing a mouse, along with this he goes through the numbers system in almost a I spy type of book of counting 1-10. with teaching kids about different tools and also numbers.

[OCLS]

This is a counting book, Frankie the cat's night prowling causes a ruckus and wakes up the neighbors.

Dream Big (Summer Reading Program 2012) recommended book

Available from OCLS in print.

[Karen]

My five-year-old son picked this book out from the library this. Of the three library books I read to my son tonight, I had the lowest expectations for this book. I was very pleasantly surprised.

This is a counting book with both a story and humor -- love that. And the illustrations are beyond incredible. If I could give more stars for the artwork, I would. I absolutely loved it.

[Alice]

On the nigh shift...the cat that lives in my house...does this! You can hear her running and stopping and playing ....like a hurricane has come through. Then all day you can't find her because she is asleep...I don't like cats- but if you do, this is the book for you! Nice pictures, even thought it has mice (I hate mice) but cat eat mice so go team!

[Rachel]

This book was a really well done and cute mix of photographs and digital art to create wonderful illustrations. Frankie is a cat who takes care of business after dark, including chasing a mouse through the house while its owners sleep, but during the day he just sleeps.

[Renee]

Oh I love the cute pictures of Frankie all dolled up to work in the Hardware store! The illustrator used real images of a cat and mouse and dogs to bring this story to life. I can't wait to share this one during my story time.

[Christine Turner]

In this story that introduces the numbers from one to ten, Frankie the cat causes a ruckus when he works the night shift in his human family's hardware store

Subject: Cats -- Juvenile fiction
Night -- Juvenile fiction
Hardware stores -- Juvenile fiction.
Counting -- Juvenile fiction

[Beth]

Nice images and cute story. We have a cat like Frankie so extra cuteness!

[Kim]

This cat has nine bosses! Clever and funny photo collage illustrations.

[Amy Sands]

Pictures are adorable.

[Erika Powers]

Disappointed. The artwork of the cat and hardware store are beautiful, the reason I picked up the book, but the people are ugly. Plus, it's a counting book! That's very disappointing. The pictures are too advanced to match the so-called story. For example: "He calls three meetings. He waters for geraniums. He inspects five tool shelves." How boring when the pictures are so exciting! I expected a book for third and fourth grade, not pre-kindergarten. Little kids MAY like it but in my opinion children learning to count like simpler pictures. This would be a fantastic artist for a more advanced story. Her pictures are beautiful.

[Kelly]

Frankie is a cat who works the night shift (judging by the illustrations, I'm guessing it's at the hardware store). A series of events occurs that causes Frankie to be on alert, causing a little mayhem.

This is a counting book, but I wasn't fond of the storyline. Frankie makes a mess wherever he goes.

[Matthew]

A cat walks around a store after it's closed and dark and all is seemingly well until he catches sight of a mouse. After that, chaos follows the cat everywhere as he gives chase to the mouse who eventually escapes outside. Amusing little book.

[Julie]

I love the premise, but the counting structure is a little too forced. The pictures are fun and it’s popular in our house because we have a Frankie look alike who enjoys waking everyone

[Kristen Thorp]

229/365

[Helen]

This book includes the sequence of numbers, 1-10. It has fascinating collage illustrations! It includes lots about blue-collar work; would be good for a discussion of manual-labor jobs.

[Aragon Reading]

A 1-10 counting book through a very cute story of a cat named Frankie.

Illustrations = Fine

Story = We have read many counting books and this is one of the better ones! Really enjoyed it.

[Tim]

My only note is that we need more books with cats wearing hardware aprons.

[Ash]

concepts: numbers
Bundles: Cats