Frances Bloom (Frances Bloom #1) (Katrina Nannestad, illus Marina Zlatanova, HarperCollins)

Children’s literature powerhouse Katrina Nannestad (All the Beautiful Things) returns with Frances Bloom, a delightful beginning to a new series. Eight-year-old Frances has posted her parents to the South Sandwich Islands so that she can live alone. Frances is perfectly content with no-one around to forbid her from eating six pancakes at once. But when her slightly horrid and mostly dull teacher, Ms Thistle, insists on meeting her parents, Frances concocts a story about living with her grandparents to avoid being sent to Bleak Island Home for Unwanted Children and Dogs. Frances promptly recruits a clumsy bear and a reliable garden gnome as charming fill-ins for her grandparents, and they quickly become a ramshackle family. This sweet story for readers aged 7+ is funny and whimsical. Frances’s innocent attempts to solve problems often lead to chaos, but also prompt readers to assess her actions and raise thoughtful questions: What are adults useful for? Can children take care of themselves? With her spirited independence, Frances is a charming Pippi Longstocking–style character for a new generation. Short chapters and expressive illustrations by Marina Zlatanova (Tabkha, Charlie’s Shell) make this an accessible book for early readers. Frances Bloom is a warm invitation into a new series, in a similar vein to Nannestad’s Travelling Bookshop series and Anna Zobel’s Little Gem.  

Books+Publishing reviewer: Clare Millar is a writer, editor and children's bookseller. Books+Publishing is Australia’s number-one source of pre-publication book reviews.

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