How to Be Bad: Home Movie

E. Lockhart just sent us this BAD home movie, with some Bad singing and dancing by two of the original 3 Evil Cousins, Avery and Aislinn.

The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks by E. Lockhart

Frankie Landau-Banks is a sophomore at Alabaster, a prestigious prep school where one might make acquaintances that will open doors all throughout life. Previously a small and awkward-looking freshman who dominated at debate, Frankie has since, shall we say...developed. And, perhaps as a result of this development, gorgeous senior Matthew Livingston notices her, invites her to a late-night golf-course shindig, and becomes her boyfriend. Frankie is positively thrilled, and loves spending time with Matthew and his friends. But when Matthew starts acting strangely--blowing her off to hang with the guys, freaking out when she touches the ridiculous china dog ornament on his desk, and quite obviously lying to her--she follows him. He ends up leading her to an old theater where she discovers that he is the Basset King, leader of the Loyal Order of the Basset Hounds, which is a secret society that has been active at Alabaster for who-knows-how-long. But Matthew hasn't told her about it, and from the looks of it, he doesn't plan to. Frankie is furious. She knows that she's just as smart than Matthew and his friends, if not smarter. But she's a girl, and the Order is an all-male society.
Does she confront him?
No.
She gets even by becoming the mastermind behind a series of the most epic pranks Alabaster Preparatory has ever seen.
The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks is quite simply excellent. It is the story of a girl who will not stand for being the "simple and sweet" girlfriend and nothing more, who refuses to give in to the panopticon (look it up) of our society, and who has decided that she won't take "no" from anybody. E. Lockhart writes with intelligence and humor, interspersing facts on secret societies that I found to be absolutely fascinating. At one point (or maybe a couple) a bit of first-person was thrown into the mix, which was slightly confusing, but it didn't take away from my like for the book as a whole. I especially appreciated Frankie's transformation over the course of the book, as well as the message conveyed.

Five out of five daggers

Wanting very badly to do something epic...

Only once in a while there comes a book that really and truly means something to me-- and The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks was one of those books. Not only was it amazingly well written, not only was I incapable of putting it down, but it made me think. Frankie Landau-Banks is a girl who has always been underestimated, and this book is the story of how she goes from being her family's small, helpless Bunny Rabbit to being, truly, a force of nature. If you read anything at all this year, read this book.

Five out of five.


Amazed, happy, and yours,

How to be Bad by E. Lockhart, Sarah Mlynowski, and Lauren Myracle

How to be Bad by E. Lockhart, Sarah Mlynowski, and Lauren Myracle is a fun, exciting spin on the classic road trip story.
Vicks, Jesse, and Mel are three very different friends. Well, not exactly-- Vicks and Jesse are friends, and Mel is the rich girl with no friends who works at the Waffle House with them. Nevertheless, they all climb into Jesse's car (her mother's car actually) on a Friday night for a weekend road trip to Miami. Along the way, they encounter a giant stuffed alligator, a pirate hotel, one very hot guy, and a new understanding of both each other and themselves.
I loved How to be Bad. The styles of the three writers were very different, but they meshed well with one another, as well as with the characters that each author wrote. (Though I won't tell you who wrote who-- it's at the back of the book for you to find out, after you've read it.)
How to be Bad is a great story of road-tripping, heartbreak, very strange tourist destinations, and, most of all, friendship.

I give this 1 fabulous book, with 3 fabulous authors, 4 fabulous daggers. (Aren't I clever?)



Bad (on account of the fact that I've just learned how!), wanting to go on a road trip, and yours,