Please join us in welcoming Elizabeth Scott as our next Author-in-Residence at rgz. She'll be hanging out with us now through April 2010. Throughout her visit, she will be cross-posting at the readergirlz blog. We are honored to have Elizabeth among us. Learn more about Elizabeth Scott and our author-in-residence position.

We are hosting a live chat with Beth Kephart, our first Author-in-Residence, at the readergirlz blog on Wednesday, January 6th. The chat will begin at 6 PM PST/9 PM PST and last for about an hour. Please join us. Many thanks, Beth, for your four months of residency!

 

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

Frankie Landau-Banks at age 14: Debate Club. Her father's "bunny rabbit." A mildly geeky girl attending a highly competitive boarding school.

Frankie Landau-Banks at age 15: A knockout figure. A sharp tongue. A chip on her shoulder. And a gorgeous new senior boyfriend: the supremely goofy, word-obsessed Matthew Livingston. Frankie is no longer the kind of girl to take "no" for an answer, especially when "no" means she's excluded from Matthew's all-male secret society.

Frankie Landau-Banks at age 16: Possibly a criminal mastermind. This is the story of how she got that way.

Download this month's poster and bookmark.

"We were so happy to hear E. Lockhart had time to share with rgz. Her witty, intelligent work will bring sparks to our community. Frankie is a beloved heroine for certain!" - Lorie Ann Grover, co-founder of rgz National Book Award finalist Printz Honor Winner in the Young Adult Fiction category of The Cybils Awards Starred reviews in Kirkus, PW, Booklist, School Library Journal

E. Lockhart

Get posters, icons,
booklists, and more
at rgz downloads!

On the nightstand: Domino Book of Decorating, Going Bovine by Libba Bray, The Calvin and Hobbes Treasury, Metropolis by Elizabeth Gaffney

Favorite drink while you write: Coffee with milk

Favorite bookstores: The Elliott Bay Book Company in Seattle. Beautiful, welcoming, sophisticated.

Favorite library: The West Tisbury Library in Martha's Vineyard has the most amazing children's room.

Pets: I have two ancient and pukey cats.

Place to write: I just bought a new apartment and have a gorgeous office with a view of the park. It has wainscotting!

Inspiration: Gentlemen Prefer Blondes by Anita Loos

Dream book tour: On the road with writer friends. I did this with Sarah Mlynowski and Lauren Myracle for How to Be Bad. It was so much fun. Otherwise, book touring is lonely and disorienting.

Writer buddies: I am sitting next to Libba Bray as I write this.

Cure for writer's block: Don't believe in it. Or pretend not to believe in it. Just do my job. Every day.

Favorite outfit: Today I am wearing new knee-high boots, a green corduroy skirt, a stripy shirt with a gray cardigan and a polka dot scarf. I am quite amused by my outfit today, actually.

Laptop or longhand? I type like 90 words a minute (with mistakes). Longhand would make me crazy as my brain goes much faster than that. I do have attractive handwriting though.

Stilettos or Uggs? Please. I am a New Yorker. I have to WALK everywhere. Good-looking flat boots, Pumas, Converse, Campers.

Next up: The Treasure Map of Boys, third in the series that started with The Boyfriend List and The Boy Book, is in stores now. Next December, the fourth in that series: Real Live Boyfriends.

Author idols: Michael Chabon

Other YA Novels:
Ruby Oliver novels: The Boyfriend List, The Boy Book, The Treasure Map of Boys
Stand-alone novels: Dramarama, Fly on the Wall, How to Be Bad (collaboration with Sarah Mlynowski and Lauren Myracle)

Interviews: The YA YA YAs, Debbi Michiko Florence, Page Numbered

Roundtable: readergirlz divas, postergirlz, and friends discuss The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks

Website: www.e-lockhart.com and www.theboyfriendlist.com

Sign up for our Email Newsletter

For Email Marketing you can trust

Special Projects

rgz LIVE!

Discuss the book with the author herself. E. Lockhart will be chatting live at the readergirlz blog on Wednesday, January 20th at 6 PM PST/9 PM EST.

We'll also be hosting a live chat with Beth Kephart at the readergirlz blog on Wednesday, January 6th at 6 PM PST/9 PM PST.

Each chat will last for an hour.

According to a report by the Center for Labor Market Studies at Northeastern University released earlier this year, almost 6.2 million students in the USA between the ages of 16 and 24 dropped out of high school in 2007. That's 16 percent of the population in the United States at that time.

BoostUp.org is dedicated to helping high school students graduate through positive reinforcement. By simply offering words of encouragement, you can boost the spirits of others and help them succeed.

BoostUp states that "approximately 7,000 high school students drop out every school day, which translates to one in three students." Let's help to change those numbers by offering positive feedback and support to our friends, family members, and others in the community. Go to http://www.boostup.org to send a boost to any of the students profiled there or to anyone you know.

One of the television spots for BoostUp features President Obama. Watch it on YouTube.

 

The following tunes were hand-picked by the author to accompany her book.

Blister in the Sun by The Violent Femmes
I Fought the Law by Green Day
Polyester Bride by Liz Phair
All Hail Me by Veruca Salt
Rebel Rebel by David Bowie

Note: Many of these questions are adapted from the excellent teacher's guide to The Disreputable History, available from the publisher here.

1. Do you think Frankie is a good role model?

2. Is it still difficult for women who are beautiful to be taken seriously? Why?

3. Frankie learns about the theory of a panopticon. Do you agree with the theory that most people behave because they have this sense of being monitored? Do you think this sense prevails in modern life even more than in previous times? Why or why not?

4. Why do you think secret societies exist? What's the point?

5. Frankie weighs everything before she says it and considers her options before she speaks. Are you able to do this? Do you wish you could?

6. Over the course of the novel Frankie gets more and more angry about how other people perceive her. Have you ever felt this rage against expectations? What did you do about it?

7. Have you ever been a prankster? Tell me a story.

8. Frankie also rails against the unwritten codes of her school, such as who gets to sit at the senior table. What are the unwritten codes and rules at your own school? Has anyone ever tried to defy them? What were the consequences?

9. Who is in control, Frankie or Matthew?

10. What do you think of Frankie's outfit on the paperback cover?

11. Frankie wants Matthew to ". . . admire her cleverness, her ambition, her vision. That he would admit her as his equal, or even as his superior, and love her for what she was capable of." Do you think this is even possible in teen relationships? Is it possible in life?

12. In the end, Frankie concludes, "It is better to be alone than to be with someone who can't see who you are." Do you agree with her?

 

Planning your own book group/get-together for this book? Here are some party ideas from the author.

Invite: A top-secret invitation that asks you to dress in black and meet in a mysterious location after dark. In an envelope sealed with sealing wax.

Food: Garlic knots. Salad bar! Strawberry Mentos. But mainly salad bar. Frankie campaigns for a half-decent salad bar at her boarding school.

Décor: Stuffed basset hounds. China basset hounds. Basset hound paraphernalia of all kinds.

Movies: The Muppet Movie shows up in the book. The Skulls is a pretty bad movie about a secret society on a college campus. Dead Poets Society.

Craft: Sealing wax and seals! A little history and playing around with them. Alternately, create a secret society - silly or serious. Give it a mission. Give it an amusing name and invent a bit of imaginary history. Create a logo for it. Imagine a prank it would execute.

 

Recommended by postergirlz, the readergirlz advisory council

Fiction
The Miles Between by Mary E. Pearson
Into the Wild Nerd Yonder by Julie Halpern
Saving Francesca by Melina Marchetta
Peace, Love and Baby Ducks by Lauren Myracle
Bloody Jack by L.A. Meyer

Non-Fiction
Girls Like Us: Carole King, Joni Mitchell, Carly Simon -- and the Journey of a Generation by Sheila Weller

 

 

 

Get ready for our upcoming book discussions and featured authors:

February: Copper Sun by Sharon Draper

March: Leviathan by Scott Westerfeld