Franny K. Stein: A Hilarious and Spooky Early Chapter Book Series
Our son is now 8 years old and he has turned into a voracious little reader. When he discovers a new series he loves, he wants to collect the entire set, and he often devours them all in a matter of days if not mere hours. So, suffice it to say, we are now constantly on the lookout for a new series to fall in love with, and we recently found another one perfect for October.
His first great book love was probably Captain Underpants, followed closely by Dog Man - both by Dav Pilkey. At first his mother would read them to him, and they would read an entire book or perhaps two each and every night - over and over again. Then he started to do the same all by himself, and there’s really no telling how many times he has read both of those series now.
I think it’s truly spectacular how much he loves his books - enough to reread them again and again. My big love was Goosebumps when I was his age. And even though I collected and read every single one of them, I have to admit that I read most of them only one time through. It’s not lost on me that he’s building a special relationship with his favorite books that he’ll remember forever.
And that is precisely why I’m such an adamant supporter of graphic novels for one thing, and it’s unfathomable to me that some parents and educators still stick their noses up at them - or other books with content they think is too silly or irreverent. Reading is reading, and art is art. And everything that sparks our kids’ imaginations and gets them excited about reading and art is something to be celebrated.
And now that you know exactly what kind of situation we’re in - with an 8-year-old that was raised with a deep love for Captain Underpants and Dog Man and is plowing through every new series he gets his hands on - I wanted to share his latest love with you. It’s a spooky, hilarious early chapter book series called Franny K. Stein: Mad Scientist.
Disclosure: Benton Arts shared copies of Franny K. Stein with us without the expectation of this featured article. We feature and share the things we love and all thoughts and opinions are our own.
Franny K. Stein is created by Jim Benton, a name that was already familiar to our son because he’s also a huge fan of his other series Catwad. And if you’re in the market for some very wacky and absurd humor I definitely recommend checking those out as well, because Catwad makes our son laugh out loud - a lot.
Franny K. Stein makes us laugh a lot too, but it’s also a bit spooky and full of adventure. Franny is a young mad scientist that is very different than all the other kids. Although she lives with a perfectly normal family in a pretty pink house with purple shutters, Franny’s room is always full of snakes and bats and creepy experiments. Just imagine how the Addams Family struggles to fit in with society to give you a good idea.
And the main reason that I mentioned our sons’ love for Captain Underpants is that it’s a natural explanation for his love of Franny K. Stein. Each chapter book features some sort of monster or creation that Franny has to save her classmates or the entire world from - and it reminds my son and I a lot of the wacky adventures that George and Harold find themselves in. So if you happen to be in the market for early chapter books for young fans of Dav Pilkey, I couldn’t recommend Franny K. Stein more.
Out of the 9 currently available books in the Franny K. Stein series (number 9, Recipe for Disaster, just released in July) our son has definitely decided that number 4, The Fran that Time Forgot, is his favorite. In it, someone tells all the other kids what the “K” in Franny K. Stein stands for - and then she goes back in time to change her name. He’s read all of them multiple times, but that’s the one that he’s read through at least a dozen times so far.
Starting out, I read the first book in the series to him as a bedtime read aloud. In that first book Franny helps fight a pumpkin crab monster with a lunch meat monster of her own creation. It’s funny and exciting and very wacky, and it captured my son’s heart immediately. And by that point he couldn’t wait any longer, so he read all the rest of the books by himself over the next two days.
In another book about running for class president, Franny builds a suit out of living tissue that transforms the wearer into whatever people want to see. It’s actually a funny commentary about general politics while also being the perfect amount of scary for us right now. And in the newest book, Recipe for Disaster, Franny creates a muffin-making robot to help with a bake sale, but he’s too good at his job and soon the muffins are all anyone wants to eat. The ideas that Benton comes up with are so much fun.
And I know it’s certainly not the focus of the stories by any means, but I think it’s worth pointing out that the way Franny doesn’t fit in with the norms of society is healthy for kids to see. In fact, in the first book, she goes out of her way to change herself to try and fit in with the other kids in school, but she ends up embracing her differences and, even though she still scares them a little, all the other kids learn to love her for being herself. And that’s a message I always really love for my kids to get.
I know there are a lot of families out there in the same boat as us, constantly searching for a new series to capture the interest of their growing readers. And this one just happened to be perfect for our son’s interests - and for celebrating a spooky October together. If you’re looking to feed your little one’s voracious reading appetite with new stories and adventures - the wacky adventures Franny K. Stein is one to check out.
Have your kids read Franny K. Stein before? What other chapter books are they into right now? Let us know in the comments!
