{"id":42001,"date":"2025-03-21T18:14:44","date_gmt":"2025-03-21T22:14:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/blog\/?p=42001"},"modified":"2025-03-21T18:14:44","modified_gmt":"2025-03-21T22:14:44","slug":"review-of-frank-and-the-bad-surprise-by-martha-brockenbrough-illustrated-by-jon-lau","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/blog\/?p=42001","title":{"rendered":"Review of Frank and the Bad Surprise, by Martha Brockenbrough, illustrated by Jon Lau"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Frank and the Bad Surprise<\/em><\/p>\n

by Martha Brockenbrough
\nillustrated by Jon Lau<\/p>\n

Levine Querido, 2022. 64 pages.
\nReview written December 13, 2022, from a library book
\nStarred Review<\/p>\n

This is a very beginning chapter book with seven short chapters and pictures on every page. It’s told from the perspective of Frank, a cat who’s happy with his life — until his owners bring home a bad surprise — a big box with a puppy inside.<\/p>\n

Frank types them a letter:<\/p>\n

To my dear humans:<\/p>\n

We do not need the puppy. We were happy with life the way it was before. It is time to take the puppy back.<\/p>\n

Sincerely,<\/p>\n

Frank<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

But even though Frank puts the letter in an envelope and the envelope into the mailbox, his owners don’t get rid of the puppy.<\/p>\n

When the puppy proves he doesn’t know the rules of naps (Do not disturb Frank!), Frank knows it’s time to find a new home.<\/p>\n

But that does not go as planned.<\/p>\n

Here’s Frank contemplating what he must do:<\/p>\n

The humans would miss Frank. They would miss his plush fur.<\/p>\n

They would miss his purrs.<\/p>\n

They would miss the tricks he did with feathers on sticks and balls with bells.<\/p>\n

But there was nothing to be done.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Yes the story is predictable — all the better for beginning readers — and it’s lots of fun. <\/p>\n

A note on the cover says “Book One,” so I’m looking forward to more books about Frank and the puppy.<\/p>\n

marthabrockenbrough.com<\/a>
\nlevinequerido.com<\/a><\/p>\n

Buy from Amazon.com<\/a><\/p>\n

Find this review on Sonderbooks<\/a> at: www.sonderbooks.com\/Childrens_Fiction\/frank_and_the_bad_surprise.html<\/a><\/p>\n

Disclosure: I am an Amazon Affiliate, and will earn a small percentage if you order a book on Amazon after clicking through from my site.<\/p>\n

Disclaimer: I am a professional librarian, but the views expressed are solely my own, and in no way represent the official views of my employer or of any committee or group of which I am part.<\/p>\n

What did you think of this book?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Frank and the Bad Surprise by Martha Brockenbrough illustrated by Jon Lau Levine Querido, 2022. 64 pages. Review written December 13, 2022, from a library book Starred Review This is a very beginning chapter book with seven short chapters and pictures on every page. It’s told from the perspective of Frank, a cat who’s happy […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[40,10,42],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-42001","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-beginning-chapter-books","category-childrens-fiction-review","category-starred-review"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42001","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=42001"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42001\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":45035,"href":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42001\/revisions\/45035"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=42001"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=42001"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=42001"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}