This book is completely amazing. I got it last night at the library picking it out at random thinking that it looked like a decent read. I began to casually read it, and from the firt page I was completely hooked. I stayed up until three o'clock in the morning to finish it. But don't let that make you think it is one of those books that for some reason you can't put down though you really want to. The main character Frankie is completely fascinating and throughout the book I kept having deja vu, where I have in the past had the exact same thoughts as the main character, but never been able to put it into words. This book is the definition of "a keeper". Read it! :)

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The summer before her sophomore year at the esteemed Alabaster Prep boarding school, Frankie "Bunny Rabbit" Landau-Banks grows into an attractive young woman. With her new physique comes male attention in the form of Matthew Livingston, the handsome and self-assured senior Frankie's had her eye on for a while; admittance into his enviable group of friends...and not much else, she soon begins to realize. For everyone only knows her as "Matthew's Girl," and if she even tries to make a semi-intelligent comment or argument, no one seems to really hear her.

So Frankie decides to take things into her own hands. There is a secret society at school, The Loyal Order of the Basset Hound, that stands for camaraderie, disorder, pranking...and masculinity, for it is an all-male club. Frankie's ultra-WASPy father was a proud basset hound, and so, now, are Matthew and his best friend, Alpha (correlation to his "pack" status totally intentional). But lately the Loyal Order of the Basset Hound has been slipping a bit in terms of the quality of prankstership. I mean, seriously, sticking forks in the grassy quad? How lamer can you get?

When Alpha leaves campus for a few days before Halloween, members of the Loyal Order of the Basset Hound begin to receive emails from the mysterious thealphadog@gmail.com, instructing them of what they have to do in order to carry out delightfully roguish pranks. Soon the whole school is in a stir over the "social activism" of the Basset Hounds' pranks; students laud--or just laugh at--the pranks, while the faculty is worried about these students' mode of expression for their dissatisfaction in, say, cafeteria food.

Alpha gallantly accepts credit for being TheAlphaDog, the mastermind of the recent great pranks, but when TheAlphaDog's identity is compromised and they must reveal who they are, who is it really? And what are the consequences for that student for usurping the brotherly bond that is the Loyal Order?

E. Lockhart takes us through a delectable romp of the secret lives of boarding school students in a lively novel that combines feminism, teenage boys, and a hearty dose of pranking.

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Reviewed by Lynn Crow for TeensReadToo.com

Frankie Landau-Banks has gone from geeky to gorgeous over the course of the summer, and she can hardly believe it when Matthew Livingston, the senior she worshipped from afar the year before, seems interested. But being Matthew's girlfriend comes with a lot of things Frankie didn't expect. She feels uncertain navigating the complicated politics of his social circle, and uneasy with the antics of his friends, which often seem to exclude her. Worst of all, she senses that he's not letting her all the way into his life--that, because she is a girl, he will never see her as an equal.

Then Frankie discovers that Matthew is a member of the school's exclusive--and male-only--secret society. At first she only spies on them out of curiosity. But as her desire to prove herself every bit as capable as Matthew's male conspirators grows, she finds herself getting wrapped up in the society's business of sneaking and pranking, without any of the boys suspecting a thing.

With Frankie pulling the strings, anything is possible.

THE DISREPUTABLE HISTORY OF FRANKIE LANDAU-BANKS is one of those rare books that is equal parts entertaining and thought-provoking. Frankie's exploits are full of humor, suspense, and drama, but she's not afraid to stop every now and then and consider the consequences of her actions. Her insecurities make her as believable as her smarts and her guts make her admirable. Readers will be cheering her on from beginning to end--and wondering how the things she learns along the way might apply to their own school adventures long after they've put the book down.

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I really enjoyed this book. I went on an E. Lockhart kick after reading "We Were Liars" (AMAZING) and i really enjoy her writing. Like most of her books, The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks is written in first character and the narrator in quite clever. You immediately connect with her because she says very little out loud to others but in her mind she is quick witted, emotional, irrational, self-deprecating, temperamental, smart, insecure, clever. I love the dichotomy between what she says to her friends, boyfriend, parents, and what she's actually thinking. The book takes place at a boarding school rich with a history of secret societies and boy clubs. Not one to be left out or told no, Frankie decides to infiltrate the most famous of all-male secret societies and take charge. It's a great read.

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