Frankie & Bug, a middle grades chapter book by Gayle Forman, tackles important issues like prejudice, family, friendship, identity and community. Set in 1987 in Venice Beach, California, it's told from the perspective of a ten year old girl named Bug, short for Beatrice, who is just starting her summer. She wants to spend it at the beach but her older brother, Danny, needs some space away from her so her mother arranges her to be under the supervision of their quirky neighbors, Phillip and Hedvig.
When Phillip's young nephew from Ohio, Frankie, flies in to stay with him for the summer, Bug's hopes are raised to possibly make a new friend and be able to spend it at the beach. But Frankie is nothing at all what Bug expected. He doesn't want to go to the beach and only is obsessed with catching the serial killer who is stalking residents in southern California. Bug must open her mind to new ways of thinking when she adjusts her plans and becomes friends with Frankie.
The more Bug becomes aware of her community's struggles, the more she then learns about her own family's secrets. This news causes her expand her world view and in the end she is richer for it.
I would recommend this book to read with 11 year olds and up, and it is perfect for a book club to be discussed. Forman puts issues of prejudice, refugees, LGBTQ+ hate crimes, abandonment out in ways that readers can discuss and ask questions about. Although the book is set in 1987, readers can think about how these issues have changed or stayed the same in certain ways. What do they think Frankie and Bug are like today? Do they have people in their lives who remind them of any of the characters?
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