FrannyKStein
In The Fran that Time Forgot, there is a pretty house in Franny’s neighborhood, with an upstairs round window that always had weird stff going on behind it. Behind that window was Frannie K who was working on experiments. She had been working on them ever since she was a little girl.

One day her mother said to her, “You can’t have your cake and eat it too.” Franny said, “Oh really?” And with one of those evil mad scientist looks on her face, she went to her lab to create the instant cake machine. All you have to do is eat a piece of cake, then push a button on the machine, and it automatically comes back to you.

One day at school, there was a science fair and Franny thought she could bring in her instant cake machine. But while she was going to school, she thought of all of her other inventions from the science fair. She thought they were dangerous – such as electric scissors, chicken “fingers,” and tornado in a can. When she got to school, they announced the winner of the science fair, from third place to first place. They said the names of the third place and the second place prizes.

Franny did not like her middle name. She thought it was not a good thing. So she told her teacher, “You don’t have to read my name. Just give me the certificate.” Her teacher said, “Nonsense! Everybody deserves to have their name read.” And then she went on to say, “Franny Kissypie Stein.” All the other children laughed. One of the kids said, “We’ve been afraid of a girl whose middle name is Kissypie?” Franny dragged her certificate all the way home. After she got home, she went to her lab and invented a time-machine that she could go in to change her middle name so that none of this would have happened.

When she got back in time, she saw baby Franny in the nursery. She took a pencil out of her pocket and erased the middle name “Kissypie” to “Kaboom” and told the baby Franny not to let anyone laugh at her.

Then she went back home and time-travelled to the science fair. The teacher read out the names in first, second and third order again. When she finally got to Franny’s name, she read out “Franny Kaboom Stein” and then all the kids laughed because they thought the Kaboom name was funny. Even Franny burst out in laughter. Then she realized she cannot change the past. She ran home and had some cake from her instant cake machine.

This book is funny, irresistible, and entertaining. It’s the most memorable of all the Franny K. Stein books in the series. I would recommend it to kids in second grade to fourth grade. I read it in third grade. Franny K. Stein taught me that you have to accept yourself for who you are because it didn’t work when she changed her name to Kaboom.

-Review by Maia T. (9)

 

 

Pin It on Pinterest