Frankie Pickle and the Pine Run 3000
Wright’s arch and accessible mixed-format stories of Frankie continue to be a treat for early chapter-book readers. Here, Frankie, who always tries too hard and has an imagination that far outstrips his abilities, fails to make the next Possum Scout level when his knot tying goes awry. But he can earn those needed badge points if he places well in an upcoming kit-built-car race. Slightly retro cartoons—reminiscent of late 1950s “cool”—are interspersed with the text throughout as Frankie’s latest adventure unfolds with enough twists on and off the racetrack to satisfy his reading peers. Grades 2-4. --Francisca Goldsmith