Lockhart's (Dramarama) witty novel about boarding school high jinks of a most cerebral order receives winning treatment from Sirois-her slightly nasal voice for the heroine, 16-year-old Frankie, seems in character and is somehow endearing. Frankie starts her sophomore year with elevated social status thanks to having become the main squeeze of Big Man on Campus Matthew Livingston, but confides her conflicted feelings about being "arm candy" to roommate Trish, who responds with sweet but Valley Girl-esque befuddlement befitting someone who stays home making fruit crumbles while the boys go out partying. Sirois goes to a deeper register for heartthrob Matthew, leader of the Loyal Order of the Basset Hounds, an all-male secret society Frankie plots to infiltrate, and affects a surfer-dude patois for Alpha, Matthew's sidekick. Sirois preserves the fun in Lockhart's talky novel, largely fueled by the intelligent repartee among its principals. Ages 12-up. Simultaneous release with the Hyperion hardcover (Reviews, Jan 7).(June)

Gr 7 Up

Over the course of one summer, Frankie Landau-Banks, a somewhat geeky girl with an unassuming nature, has developed into a 15-year-old with an attention-grabbing figure, a new attitude, and sights set on making changes at her elite boarding school in this novel (Hyperion, 2008) by W. Lockhart. The teenager also has a new boyfriend, a gorgeous senior who belongs to a long-standing secret society on campus-The Loyal Order of the Basset Hounds, known mostly for silly pranks and a history of male-only membership. With a witty, sharp, and intelligently scheming mind, Frankie manipulates the Loyal Order to do her bidding with pranks meant to make a political statement about the male-dominated and classist nature of the school. Tanya Eby Sirois adequately voices the characters. Frankie's personality is portrayed most effectively; some of the slang and the attitudes of the male characters feel forced. Telephone calls are relayed using special effects that are mostly convincing, and the segments that are told via emails are well conveyed and perfectly paced. Listeners will feel that they are a part of the teen's disreputable and humorous history. An overall fun listen that the author's fans are sure to enjoy.-Stephanie A. Squicciarini, Fairport Public Library, NY

This cerebral and offbeat comedy of manners will appeal to fans of John Green's An Abundance of Katherines (2006). Spunky boarding-school sophomore Frances "Frankie" Landau-Banks is tired of being underestimated by the men in her life, including her upperclassman boyfriend Matthew and his wittier-than-thou friends. Inspired by P.G. Wodehouse's Code of the Woosters, she infiltrates Matthew's secret and exclusive male club-The Loyal Order of the Basset Hounds-and, unbeknownst to them, begins orchestrating their elaborate pranks. She hopes the boys will be awed by her ingenuity and finally acknowledge her brains as well as her recently developed body. But Matthew & Co. are less than pleased to discover Frankie's deception, and she learns the hard way that "it's better to be alone . . . than to be with someone who can't see who you are." Lockhart has transcended the chick-lit genre with this adroit, insightful examination of the eternal adolescent push-pull between meekly fitting in and being liked or speaking out and risking disdain. A funny feminist manifesto that will delight the anti-Gossip Girl gang. (Fiction. YA)

A Printz Honor Winner
A National Book Award Finalist in the Young People’s Literature Category
A Publishers Weekly Best Book of the Year
A New York Times Notable Children’s Book
A School Library Journal Best Book of the Year
A Chicago Public Library’s Best of the Best List Pick
A Washington Post Best Kids Book of the Year
A Booklist Editors’ Choice Book
A YALSA Teens’ Top Ten Pick

A homage to girl-power, the novel offers biting social commentary throughout - not the kind that deadens a story but the kind that gives it punch - and a protagonist who is independent and fearless...—New York Times

* “Lockhart has transcended the chick-lit genre. . . . A funny feminist manifesto that will delight the anti-Gossip Girl gang.” —Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
 
* “Big ideas are an essential part of the fun in this sparkling tour de force. . . . An exuberant, mischievous story, it scores its points memorably and lastingly.” —Publishers Weekly (starred review)
 
* “Lockhart creates a unique, indelible character in Frankie. . . .Teens will be galvanized by her brazen action and her passionate, immediate questions about gender and power, individuals and institutions, and how to fall in love without losing herself.” —Booklist (starred review)
 
* “An empowered female hero like Frankie is a rare and refreshing find. She is the ultimate feminist role model for teens: a girl with guts and imagination who’s brave enough to take on the ‘old boys’ club.’”—SLJ (starred review)
 
“Highly recommended.” —Library Media Connection (starred review)

Here is a fun poke at fancy preparatory schools, their fancy-schmancy pedigrees, and the students who attend them. Tanya Eby Sirois is a great vocal match for the offbeat, unpretentious Frankie Landau-Banks, who takes on the status quo at her private school and proves to be the alpha-female of the old boy secret society The Bassett Hounds. As Sirois portrays Frankie’s transformation from skinny, near-invisible kid sister to the ever-so-noticeable "it" girl, her inflections, especially of sarcasm, are just right. Characterizations are also well done for boyfriend Matt and the pretentious Alpha Dog. Although rich, spoiled, and pampered, these teens are the same as any other: impractical, daring, and fun to listen to while they pull pranks and cause commotion—simply to prove they can. D.L.M. © AudioFile 2008, Portland, Maine