When twelve-year-old Frankie Joe's mother is sent to jail, he is uprooted from his home in Texas to live with the father he has never met, his father's wife, and his father's four "legitimate" sons in Illinois. Frankie Joe is miserable. Trying to adjust to his blended family proves too much to bear, so Frankie Joe hatches a plot to escape on his bike back home to Texas. For that he needs money, and so Frankie Joe's Freaky Fast Delivery Service is born. His deliveries win new friends, a place in the rural Illinois community, and a sense of achievement. But his planned escape is destroyed by a heartbreaking betrayal, and Frankie Joe needs all of his incredible resilience and the loving support of his new family to survive the devastating loss.
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- Freaky Fast Frankie Joe
Freaky Fast Frankie Joe
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Genre(s)
Age Range
10+
Release Date
February 20, 2012
ISBN
978-0823423675
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Editor reviews
2 reviews
Bicyling and Blended Families
Overall rating
3.0
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Frankie Joe is perfectly happy in Texas, at the Lone Star Trailer Park. He knows most of the residents, and they all take care of each other. When his mother is sent to jail for drug dealing, Frankie Joe must go with the father he has never met, his new wife, and his four young sons. It's tough to get used to being with a large family, especially since one of his brothers is veyr smart, and Frankie Joe struggles in school. The oldest brother also is very mean, and taunts him about his mother being in jail. Frankie Joe makes plans to run away back to Texas, and is very methodical-- he makes a list, gathers supplies, and gets a variety of jobs to earn the money he will need. In the process, he gets to know his neighbors and schoolmates, and starts to realize that his new family isn't so bad. Is going back to Texas still a good idea? Is it even a possibility?
Good Points
It's somehow refreshing to read books about children who are in difficult but not dire circumstances. Not every family is intact; not all parents are able to take care of their children. This book realistically portrays the troubles that Frankie has changing environments, but also provides him with a lot of kind, supportive people. I ended up liking this one a lot more than I thought I would.
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1 review
Overall rating
5.0
Plot
5.0(1)
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5.0(1)
Writing Style
5.0(1)
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I could relate to Frankie Joe
(Updated: March 31, 2012)
Overall rating
5.0
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Having been in a blended family, I could relate to the struggles Frankie Joe encountered in adjusting to radical changes. Twelve-year-old Frankie Joe is uprooted from his life in the trailer park in Texas when fate intervenes, his mother goes to jail, and he is forced to move in with his father and his “other” family in Illinois. Prior to the move, he never really knew his father or step-mother, and he didn’t know he had four half-brothers until he arrived at his new home.
Frankie Joe is not happy in his new life, and why would he be? He is taunted and made fun of by others, even one of his new half-brothers, and he is having trouble at school. Able to endure only so much, he makes a secret plan to make money and escape back to Texas by creating Frankie Joe’s freaky Fast Delivery Service. Frankie Joe shows what it means to be resilient, and his courage and strength serve him well, especially with a particularly difficult betrayal towards the end.
I could empathize with the feeling out of place and uncertainty with everything around you as Frankie Joe did. There are real challenges that children and young adults have to contend with and this story does a nice job revealing those challenges in an ultimately uplifting and positive way.
Frankie Joe is not happy in his new life, and why would he be? He is taunted and made fun of by others, even one of his new half-brothers, and he is having trouble at school. Able to endure only so much, he makes a secret plan to make money and escape back to Texas by creating Frankie Joe’s freaky Fast Delivery Service. Frankie Joe shows what it means to be resilient, and his courage and strength serve him well, especially with a particularly difficult betrayal towards the end.
I could empathize with the feeling out of place and uncertainty with everything around you as Frankie Joe did. There are real challenges that children and young adults have to contend with and this story does a nice job revealing those challenges in an ultimately uplifting and positive way.
Good Points
Enjoyable writing style that reveals the character and development of Frankie Joe over time. The author does a nice job letting us into the internal world of Frankie Joe and helps us understand the emotional challenges he is dealing with. I really was interested in watching how the main character made decisions as to how to overcome the challenges he was facing. While there where some challenging characters Frankie Joe had to contend with, the story wasn't lopsided. There were some really supportive, encouraging, and helpful people in his life all along the way, as well.
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