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The Day Joanie Frankenhauser Became a Boy by Francess Lantz

Summary

Joanie Frankenhauser is tired of everyone from her parents to her teachers telling her she can't do things like play tackle football or write action stories with decapitated rats, simply because she is a girl. When her family moves to a new town and the school roster misspells her name as John she decides to take advantage of it, letting her teachers and fellow students think she is a boy.

Booktalk

(write J O A N) on chalkboard or piece of paper.

Read Chapt. 1 from "I'm open, I'm open!" to "Just everything."

Joan, aka Joanie Frankenhauser likes to skateboard, play sports, and write stories about her alter-ego, SuperKid who regularly battles and defeats the evil Dr. Dread. Her parents think she should wear dresses, barrettes, and lip gloss, they won't let her play tackle football and her old teacher thinks her SuperKid stories are too violent for a girl. When the family moves to a new town and the school misspells one little letter in her name on the class roster, Joan (erase A and write in H)… becomes John. She already wears T-shirts and skater shorts, she's good at football, climbing trees, and burping, and she loves gross jokes, so instead of correcting the teacher, she goes along with it and decides to try living as a boy for a while, since they get to do all the things she wants to do. But Joanie, um, John, soon realizes that being a boy doesn't mean having it easy. Whether it's dealing with a bully who picks on anyone he sees as weak, trying to figure out if being a guy means you HAVE to act like a jerk, and trying to keep her parents from finding out her new school thinks she's a boy while keeping her school from finding out she's really a girl, Joanie has to figure out not how to be a boy or how to be a girl, but how to just be Joanie.

151 pages, 4thth grade and up

Discussion questions

Warning! Some of the questions contain key elements of the plot. Do not read if you don't want to know what happens!

  1. Why do you think Joanie decides to let people think she's a boy at school?
  2. Have you ever wished you were someone or something else? Who or what?
  3. What do you think Joanie learns about being a boy that she didn't know before? About being a girl?
  4. Joanie thinks her mom wants her to be something she's not – what do you think Joanie's mom wants?
  5. Do any of the characters remind you of someone in your own life? With which characters would you want to be friends?
  6. What are some of the gender stereotypes that some of the characters seem to have about what a girl should act like and what a boy should act like? Which characters have these stereotypes? Do they still have the stereotypes at the end of the story?
  7. At the end of the story, Joanie's alter-ego, SuperKid, has lost her superpowers. How does this change how SuperKid acts?

Snacks: Joanie's mom is a Home Economics teacher and gourmet cook, so she'd suggest finger foods, including cheese, meat, fruit, and veggie cubes with fancy, frilly toothpicks, and mini pizzas. Or you can do the school lunch thing and have Jello-cubes and peanut butter and jelly sandwiches

Created in part with funds granted by the Oregon State Library under the Library Services and Technology Act, administered by the Oregon State Library. Send feedback to Katie O'Dell, Reading Promotions Coordinator