MIDDLE GRADE HISTORICAL FICTION REVIEW & AUTHOR INTERVIEW: Frankie & Bug by Gayle Forman
ABOUT THE BOOK
It’s the summer of 1987, and all ten-year-old Bug wants to do is go to the beach with her older brother and hang out with the locals on the boardwalk. But Danny wants to be with his own friends, and Bug’s mom is too busy, so Bug is stuck with their neighbor Philip’s nephew, Frankie.
Bug’s not too excited about hanging out with a kid she’s never met, but they soon find some common ground. And as the summer unfolds, they find themselves learning some important lessons about each other, and the world.
Like what it means to be your true self and how to be a good ally for others. That family can be the people you’re related to, but also the people you choose to have around you. And that even though life isn’t always fair, we can all do our part to make it more just.
REVIEW
Frankie & Bug is a tender story of friendship and growing up. Bug is a self-focused ten-year-old girl as the story opens on the summer of 1987 in Venice Beach, California. By the end she has learned a lot about friendship and learning to listen and respond to others needs and wants. Bug isn't happy that her older brother Danny (who now wants to be called Daniel) no longer wants to hang out with her. As a result she won't be able to spend most of the summer at the beach the way she did the previous year. In addition to the changes in Danny, the upstairs neighbor's nephew, Frankie is coming to visit for the summer. At first that seems like a good thing, but she and Frankie don't really click at first. An interest in catching a serial killer bring them together but the budding friendship runs into a number of challenges. On top of a fluctuating friendship with Frankie, Bug and her family also run into serious issues regarding her biracial family and the local skinheads as well as homophobia. As Bug struggles to come to terms with the injustice and unfairness around her, she and Frankie find that friendship can develop between those who are different if one takes the time to listen and work through the challenges.
Forman has created two memorable characters in Bug and Frankie. They come from very different backgrounds, enjoy different things, and don't really click at the beginning. Once Bug finds Frankie's secret, her eyes begin to open to the world around her. The setting is superbly presented and I found myself almost living and breathing with the characters. The secondary characters prove to have depth which makes for a more engrossing read. And while the book deals with trans and homophobia as well as racism, the book is mostly about Bug growing up and learning to think about someone other than herself. A wonderful tale of friendship that also makes the reader think about right and wrong, and what it takes to stand up for what you believe. Highly recommended.
INTERVIEW
What made you decide to set this story in 1987 California?
I grew up in Los Angeles, and this is the first book I’ve set there. The entire inspiration for Frankie & Bug was when I started thinking about my childhood in the 1980s and how in some ways, we have made so much progress in terms of social justice and how we treat one another, and in other ways, we seemed stuck in place, or like we were moving backwards. I knew I needed to set the book in the past to give today’s young reader that same over-the-shoulder perspective. It was so much fun to write “historical” fiction that I lived through and to write about a part of L.A. that I love.
How did Frankie & Bug come to be?
As soon as I started pondering the whole idea of what's changed what hasn’t, these two funny kids popped into my head. It took me eight years to write this book and a lot about it changed, but the two kids, and their friendship, remained my North Star.
What did you enjoy most/least about writing for middle grade?
It took me a long time to get the voice right. At first, it was very much an adult’s idea of what a kid that age sounds like, which is ironic because back when I started my kids were that age (they’re teens now). But once I stopped trying so hard and remembered some of my favorite middle-grade rascals from growing up (Ramona, Harriet, etc.) Bug’s voice poured out of me. Another challenge writing middle grade, which is to say something that made the writing process that much more engaging, is finding the right balance between fairly grown-up ideas about justice, fairness and bigotry with a child’s sensitivity and sensibility. I worked hard to find that balance but I also trust my readers. If there’s one thing I’ve learned from years of writing for and about young people, is not to underestimate them.
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