Doctor FRYkenstein, They're Alive!
Written: Aug 21 '08 (Updated Aug 21 '08)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Potato driven. Short chapters. Good source of friber.
Cons: Flat characters. Differentiating the potato people can be a challenge early on.
The Bottom Line: This could be a motivating book for a reluctant reader.
Potatoes are a high interest food.
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| nagels's Full Review: David Baldacci - Fries Alive! |
At checkout the librarian was surprised to learn that David Baldacci has written a few books for young readers. Mostly known for his seventeen adult novels, he has authored several books for his young adult series, including the book checked out, Freddy and the French Fries:Fries Alive! Among his adult novels are: Absolute Power, total Control, The Winner, The simple Truth, The Collectors, and Stone Cold.
Mr. Baldacci still lives in the state of his birth, Virginia. He received his political science Bachelor of Arts degree from Virginia Commonwealth University and a law degree from the University of Virginia. He practiced law for nine years and can be seen doing commentary on a cable channel’s true crime show.
This reviewer was drawn to one of David Baldacci’s books, “Freddy and the French Fries: Fries Alive.” It’s a book written as a bedtime story for the author’s children and illustrated by David’s brother. For me it has all the qualities a Potato Head looks for in a book. Yes, it’s relatively short, easy to read, illustrated, silly and funny, but what this tater brain likes most is that Freddy and the French Fries is potato driven.
Spudopsis
The Burger Castle, a family owned restaurant, is having a downturn and needs to bring in more customers to survive. Alfred Funkhouser, his thirteen-year-old daughter Nancy and his nine year old inventor son may have to leave Pookesville if the Burger Castle fails.
Freddy comes up with an outlandish, outside the box plan to win the annual Pookesville Founders’ Day float contest and enough money to jump start the Burger Castle business.
Thwarting Freddy’s plans at every turn are bully Adam Spanker and his gang of goons. It doesn’t help that Stewie Spanker owns the biggest restaurant in town, the huge theme-park cloned Patty Cakes Restaurant. Stewie is also the Pookesville Chief of Police and its mayor. The Funkhousers are up against great odds, but with the aid of Howie Kapowie, Freddy’s only human friend, and the French Fry allies created by Freddy and miraculously brought to life by a fortuitous bolt of lightning, the sky is the limit.
Are Freddy and the Fries just dreamers or can they overcome the plots and shenanigans of the Spankers? You’ll have to read Freddy and the French Fries yourself to find out.
What I like
The short chapters are great for short attention spans and for filling unexpected short periods of found time. Baldacci ends each chapter with a hint of things to come, a great motivator for juvenile readers or even and adult Potato Head.
The vocabulary is simple enough to be comfortable for young readers, yet brainy characters like Freddy and crinkle cut fry Theodore challenge better readers with their expanded vocabulary and words such as conundrum, posthaste, neuromuscular, nanotechnology, and spontaneous elemental combustion. The challenging vocabulary words are widely sprinkled through the pages like lightly salted fries.
The generous use of mildly taboo words such as fart, vomit, and poop appeals to young, male readers and keeps their interest.
Freddy is the ultimate underdog, undersized, brainy, and bespectacled, who triumphs over big, formidable, dumb enemies. In the end, friendship, good, and intelligence win.
Curly, the curly fry, speaks with unspaced words muchlikeIamtypingnow. Every bit of dialogue by Curly is a puzzle beggingtobesolved.
The numbers of each chapter are shaped with fries, a clever touch.
Minor Nit Picks
At first I had a hard time keeping the names of the fries straight. Their pictures and names on the back cover were extremely helpful.
I was surprised to find a handful of grammatical errors in the text, but any reader in the target audience most likely wouldn’t notice or care.
Finally
Be sure to visit the Freddy and the French Fries web page. It includes detailed character sketches of the fries, related activities, and even a couple arcade style games.
164 pages
Printed in the United States of America
Book illustrations were done in pen and ink.
Recommended:
Yes
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