Frankie Pickle and the Closet of Doom

I nearly didn't get to review Eric Wight's Frankie Pickle and the Closet of Doom. When it arrived in the mail, my son, a voracious reader of both chapter books and comics, pounced on it, read it from cover to cover immediately and then refused to hand it over. He wanted to take it to school; he wanted to read it again; he wanted to have it on his shelf in his room. He kept relating parts of it, repeating bits of dialogue. And he put the next installment in the Frankie Pickle series—Frankie Pickle and the Pine Run 3000—on his Christmas list. (I do discourage Christmas lists in June, but he’s unstoppable. He also expects Santa to produce a super sonic car and a mind-operated Wii controller, so a book not due out until February is the most realistc item on his list.)

Frankie Pickle and the Closet of Doom is a hybrid, part comic book, part chapter book. Frankie has one of those "active" imaginations, and when he finds himself playing the role of an Indiana Jones style adventurer or a city-protecting superhero—always accompanied by his sidekick, Argyle the Westie Terrier—his adventures are related in comic book form. When he's Frankie Piccolini, a regular kid dealing with a regular kid's problems (an obnoxiously sporty older sister, a needy baby sister, and a fantastically messy room) the story is related in chapter book prose.

The boy (or girl) who slips easily into daydream fantasies is classic material for children’s literature, and similar techniques have been used in both film and literature. What’s surprising here is how well the hybrid form works to relate the inner workings of Frankie’s mind. Despite bouncing between comic s and prose, fantasy and reality, the story progresses seamlessly. The prose in the chapter book portions is punchy, comedic and fastmoving. And the illustrations bleed out of the comics to invade the prose chapters. At the same time, elements from reality slip into Frankie’s comic book fantasies, and all the moving parts mesh together around Frankie’s one central problem.

Frankie Pickle is also a wonderful tribute to both contemporary graphic novels and classic comic books. The drawings, with simple, bold figures, are nonetheless cinematically framed, with establishing shots, point-of-view frames and evoctive camera angles, giving the art in Frankie Pickle a certain sophistication. At the same time Frankie Pickle, with its fast pace and goofy puns, reminds me of the classic comics from my childhood . It even incorporates “extra features” including a two page tutorial on how to draw Frankie and Argyle and a four page Franke Pickle bonus comic.

Let’s not forget to mention how attractive Frankie Pickle may look to educators eager to convert new readers. For my son, who loves reading, Frankie Pickle was simply an extra delectable treat. But it’s comic book elements could be a big draw for reluctant readers as well, perhaps providing just the ticket to the marvelously rich and delightful world of literature.