Frankie Best Hates Quests

Product Information

As a journalist he has covered national politics for Vanity Fair, where he is a contributing editor, and 9/11, "Saturday Night Live," Derek Jeter, Hillary Rodham Clinton, and New York politics, among many subjects, for New York Magazine. Children who like fairytales and also those that don’t (like Frankie) will love this magical adventure - perhaps she can help convince a few more minds that quests are awesome! Frankie really doesn’t like Parallelia when she first steps into it, but her little brother Joel loves it so much! It's also a really good fantasy in it's own right, with fun, interesting world-building, some original ideas and good characters. We’ve re-named Puffin Virtually Live so that it’s easier for new teachers to discover it as part of Puffin Schools and to acknowledge that the show now premieres on show day, rather than being streamed live.

Before they know it, Frankie and Joel find themselves embarking on a quest (it’s not a quest, Frankie hates quests) to rescue their grandad. Frankie did have big plans to watch YouTube and eat pot noodles that weekend but it looks like she'll just have to go on an epic mega-dangerous quest instead. Frankie is twelve and all teen angst, glued to her phone, her brother is a geek and this cannot be happening.She provides a running commentary in the form of snide comments and scornful remarks that remind readers just how silly all this fantasy stuff is. However, please be aware that it uses a YouTube player and that you should check your school’s permissions to ensure that YouTube isn’t blocked. From the incredible imagination of Chris Smith - bestselling author and now a major new solo talent - comes an extraordinary accidental adventure for fans of Cressida Cowell and Pixar's Onward. With brilliant place names like Splendidness, Calmwater Bay and Fishsmelling-on-Sea, I hope there will be more adventures in Parallelia to come!

Even if readers hate quests as much as Frankie does, they will find the page-turning excitement on offer very hard to resist. Not only is she stuck at Grandad’s for a whole week while her parents swan off to the arctic, now she’s discovered that there’s NO WIFI anywhere in the house! I couldn’t find the name of the cover artist but I think it might have also been Kenneth Anderson, going off the similarity to the internal illustrations.The content and ambition of the show remains the same: to give every pupil the opportunity to engage with authors and illustrators in their own classroom using the power of the internet.

Chris Smith's humorous fantasy novel (illustrated by Kenneth Anderson) for readers aged 9+ has strong themes of friendship and being true to yourself. Heroes perpetually leap from frying pan to fire and there is even a chapter entitled ‘There and Back Again’. Kenneth Anderson’s illustrations bring Frankie’s quest to life through the journal pages interspersed within the story and I loved the detailed map of Parallelia at the start of the book. The 103 third parties who use cookies on this service do so for their purposes of displaying and measuring personalized ads, generating audience insights, and developing and improving products.

She is rather disappointed, therefore, when she finds herself stuck at her boring old grandfather’s house for the summer with her annoying little brother, Joel. Frankie did have big plans to watch YouTube and eat pot noodles that weekend but it looks like she'll just have to go on an epic mega-dangerous quest instead . I really loved seeing the progression from all of the characters and I always wanted to know what was going to happen next. It is an effective device that adds humour and occasional respite from a thrilling pace but, at times, it feels unnecessary and somewhat undermines the story – which is genuinely tense and dramatic. Frankie did have big plans to watch YouTube and eat pot noodles that weekend but it looks like she’ll just have to go on an epic mega-dangerous quest instead .