Don't Get Caught by Kurt Dinan

This book combines my two great loves: books about revenge, and books about prank wars.

I suppose this eccentric, very specific set of loves comes from The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks by E. Lockhart, a top-notch book about a girl proving exactly what she's worth to a boys-only secret society.

Max, the narrator of Don't Get Caught, and four other high-school misfits find themselves set up by a long-lived secret prank society, the Chaos Club. After getting into trouble and becoming notorious, Max and company decide to team up Ocean's Eleven style to get revenge.

And like Frankie Landau-Banks, Max sometimes questions why he's choosing to do what he does. Not that it stops him from pulling off some by turns atrocious and brilliant pranks at his school, in the company of his new friends. Along the way he grows up a bit and learns some stuff, but I was in it for the prank war.

There are some adult themes in this book, as well as some very non-adult, juvenile jokes. Enter at your own risk.

What really bumped this book up to the full five stars is the very last page. It's the best possible way to end this story. I had guessed part of the twist, but I definitely didn't guess how that last scene would go. You'll have to read it yourself to find out.

The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks: The Trailer

This is a trailer I made during a project for graduate school. My partner was Breann Kay, and all of the images and sounds are Creative Commons-licensed.

The book is The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks, one of my all-time favorite YA novels (reviewed by me at the link). It all starts when Frankie Landau-Banks goes from "Bunny Rabbit" to criminal mastermind during her sophomore year at the exclusive Alabaster Prep boarding school.

We had a great time making this, and I hope you enjoy it (and want to read the book)!

The Boyfriend List

The Boyfriend List: 15 Guys, 11 Shrink Appointments, 4 Ceramic Frogs and Me, Ruby Oliver by E. Lockhart

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

In ten days, high schooler Ruby Oliver went from being popular to a social leper; her shrink and a list of fifteen former boyfriends help her begin to understand how exactly she got into this mess.

Ruby tells the story of how in one week she lost her boyfriend, her best friend, and suffered public humiliation of the worst kind. She tells the story of her life and likes to her poncho-wearing shrink, all while trying to navigate the treacherous waters at Tate, her private prep school.

The structure of this novel is sophisticated, all taking place in flashbacks as Ruby unravels her own history and is challenged by her shrink to reevaluate what she thinks she knows about herself and the people around her.

Lockhart has said that she was inspired by Nick Hornby's High Fidelity, structuring her novel around the list instead of around music. Ruby is funny and smart, and her experiences with high school angst ring true as she tries to figure out more than just boys, but also people in general.

E. Lockhart is the author of one of my all-time favorite YA novels: The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks, and Ruby Oliver didn't disappoint - though she's not quite as unique a character as Frankie. This is the first book of the Ruby Oliver series, so there's plenty more to read for Ruby Oliver fans. You might also enjoy How to Take the Ex Out of Ex-Boyfriend by Janette Rallison, or try Meg Cabot's works.

The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks

UPDATE: I helped create a trailer for this book! You can view it here.

The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks by E. Lockhart
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Frankie Landau-Banks goes from "Bunny Rabbit" to criminal mastermind during her sophomore year at the exclusive Alabaster Prep boarding school.

When Frankie starts dating Matthew Livingston, she feels that she has been given a window into his world of confident privilege and power. And she desperately wants to belong in her own right, not just as a pretty girl the boys underestimate. She discovers the existence of the male-only Loyal Order of the Basset Hounds and secretly begins pulling their strings, orchestrating larger and more elaborate pranks.

This is one of my favorite YA books. Frankie is smart, her pranks are genuinely clever and funny, and she is as conflicted and occasionally insecure as any other ordinary high-school girl. Unlike most high school girls, though, she knows exactly what she wants and often has a good idea of how to get it. (This is also the book that introduced me to P.G. Wodehouse, for which I shall be eternally grateful.)

Written like an anthropological study (or a profile of the criminal mind at work), The Disreputable History chronicles one ambitious, smart girl's year of coming into her own. A book club or an English class could probably spend a quarter analyzing the power dynamics at play, Frankie's ideas about rebellion against the Panopticon, or how each character (male and female) represents a different response to patriarchy.

What to read after you're finished:

The Boyfriend List: 15 Guys, 11 Shrink Appointments, 4 Ceramic Frogs and Me, Ruby Oliver by E. Lockhart - for your next fix of clever, feminist chick lit.

The Interventionists: Users' Manual for the Creative Disruption of Everyday Life, edited by Gregory Sholette - "interventionists" create art to bring awareness to issues of injustice (Lockhart cites this in the afterward).

The Code of the Woosters by P.G. Wodehouse - For a hilarious look into the machinations of the Old Boys' Club by "a prose stylist of such startling talent that Frankie nearly skipped around with glee when she first read some of his phrases." Amen.

Team Human by Justine Larbalesteir - another YA writer who consistently writes strong and believable female heroines.

A few of my favorite quotes from the book:

• "Secrets are more powerful when people know you've got them," said Mr. Sutton. "You show them the tiniest edge of your secret, but the rest you keep under wraps."
• "It had been, she felt, a dumb event preceded by excellent invitations."
• "She wasn't a person who needed to be liked so much as she was a person who liked to be notorious."
• "Frankie did not accept life as it was presently occurring."
• “It is better to be alone, she figures, than to be with someone who can’t see who you are. It is better to lead than to follow. It is better to speak up than stay silent. It is better to open doors than to shut them on people.”