The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks

A while ago, I read Dramarama by E. Lockhart and enjoyed it immensely. Her newest book manages to be even better. The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks is the story of a prep school junior who doesn't want to be known by her childhood nickname "Bunny" anymore. Frankie feels it's time for people to start taking her seriously. As the school year goes on, she grows more and more obsessed with the secret society her boyfriend Matthew has joined at school, the Loyal Order of the Basset Hounds. Instead of taking no for an answer when he acts like it doesn't exist, Frankie takes matters into her own hands. She starts sending emails to the group disguised as their fearless leader and ends up becoming somewhat of a criminal mastermind by making the Order carry out large scale pranks against the school, students and mascots.

I came away feeling like all teen books for girls should be written like this one. E. Lockhart perfectly captures the feelings of a female trapped in a male culture and puts a really interesting spin on the power dynamics. Her views on prep school were also interesting. A friend commented that the book "perfectly explained the annoying, rich boy sense of entitlement and security in one's superior social standing that made Logan and the last season of Gilmore Girls totally stupid." I couldn't agree more. Lockhart makes Frankie into the kind of feminist we should all strive to be and that makes this book excellent.