5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Meet Frank!, March 7, 2001
Those Bailey School Kids are at it again! This time, they're off on a field trip to a verrrry strange museum! This museum seems to have a mad scientist and a very strange character named Frank! Frank is about 7 feet tall, has quite a few thick scars on him, loves flowers and seems only able to say "unnnnhhhh"... Sound like any horror monsters you know?? Is it possible that the Bailey Kids have found FRANKENSTEIN? Is it possible they've discovered some sort of terrible secret? Will they escape with their lives...??
"Frankenstein Doesn't..." marks the 6th book in this quick-moving series where supernatural creatures and strange characters abound. The third grade's classroom teacher seems to be a vampire. The camp counselor seems to be a werewolf. Santa Claus seemed to be their janitor for a while, and now here's this massively tall guy named Frank in this spooky old museum. What's going to happen next?
All the books in the series are quick-paced and quick-witted. The class clown, Eddie, is also the one character who refuses to believe that their teacher is a vampire (though the evidence is beginning to grow on him by this book!), there are werewolves running amok or aliens have invaded the school (that's in the next book, "Aliens Don't Wear Braces"). Indeed, Eddie functions as the only voice of reason (albeit a very sarcastic voice!). Part of the fun of the series are Eddie's wisecracks but also the way that everything isn't 100% spelled out for the reader. Maybe Frank really IS Frankenstein, maybe he isn't. The evidence points that way, certainly, but who can really tell?
"Frankenstein Doesn't..." is a tad creepier than some of the other books in the series, but not what I would call scary or horrifying. Therefore, it's a good selection for beginning/intermediate readers who are looking for something that will hold their interest but won't scare the daylights out of them like other books in the horror genre. The text reads quickly (as an adult, I can polish off a "...Doesn't..." book in about 20 minutes) and the pencil illustrations augment the story wonderfully. It's really an addictive series! Try it! You'll like it!!
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Enjoyable Story, Poorly Written, November 14, 2008
This is the first Bailey School Kids book that my eight-year-old son and I have read. The best thing about this book (a feature it shares with the others in the series)is its title. Frankenstein/Petunias. Genius. My son chose this as his RIF book, at school, based on the title alone.
The story held his attention, but even at his age, he realized how awkward most of the sentences were. Perhaps it was because we were reading aloud that made this so obvious.
One example: The author(s) seemed to have a thesaurus next to her and was determined to avoid using the (usually more appropriate) word "said." The first page of Chapter 6 uses "Eddie laughed..Liza squealed...Eddie snapped...Melody interrupted...Howie wondered outloud" after each quote. Sure, an author should use those phrases occasionally, but a string of them like that actually pulls the reader OUT of the story when they should be drawn in. It proved very distracting throughout the book.
Based on the popularity of the series, I would not feel justified in telling you to avoid the Bailey School Kids books in general. However, I would recommend that you try a different book first.
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Rachel's Review, October 17, 2001
"Frankenstein Doesn't Plant Petunias" is a great book.
It is about four chilldren that think this guy named Frank is Frankenstein! I could read it 100 times. My favorite is when a boy named Eddie says all these jokes that make me laugh.
YOU SHOULD GET THE BOOK!
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