Review Detail

5.0 1

Freaky Fast Frankie Joe

Young Adult Fiction 133

I could relate to Frankie Joe

March 31, 2012 (Updated: March 31, 2012)

Overall rating

5.0

Plot

N/A

Characters

N/A

Writing Style

N/A

Illustrations/Photos (if applicable)

N/A

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.

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.