I loved the texture and layering to this book. Frankie and her story were so real, and this is a great medium to tell a story in. I'll have to check out more of Caroline Preston's work. ( )

Although the fad of fancy scrapbooking with designer paper, expensive metal brads, ribbons, lace, and all the other things that scrapbook stores are stuffed with may have tempered slightly in the recent recession, there are still plenty of people out there who will pore over this novel cleverly disguised as a vintage scrapbook. Subtitled "a novel in pictures," it is full of bits and clippings of authentic vintage scrapbooks, collected by the author, an archivist from the Peabody/Essex Museum. The work put into framing the story and finding pictures and clippings to tell it are impressive.

This book won an Alex award in 2012. However, I would note that its subject matter does limit it pretty strictly to young women; I would be hard pressed to find a teenage boy that would be caught reading this. It has appeal to both budding and full-fledged hipsters, although some will be confused by the caption "a Corona at last -- I've always wanted one!" in reference to the typewriter, not the beer. ( )

I loved this book! This is a picture book with the pictures being mementos from the 1920's with a story line that runs throughout the pictures. This is like picking up an old scrapbook of your grandmother's or your great-grandmother's and seeing all the really fun and interesting things she did when she was in her 20's. It was a clever idea to put together all these pictures in scrapbook form and then tell the story of Frankie - a Vassar graduate and "modern" woman - while we look at old ads about toothpaste and hair removal, old timetables and Parisian charm bracelets, excerpts from ex-pat mags in France, the schedule for a semester at Vassar (along with the report card!), antique valentines, music selections, a picture of an antique hot water heater (yes, I love that!) and so many more items I could re-read this and find more stuff.

Fun book to read! As for the story, the charm is in the pictures but you do tend to fall in love with Frankie and wish her well. At times I thought her attitude was maybe a touch TOO modern but I'm not sure about that. I'm not well-versed in 1920's American manners, other than what I glean from books.

This would be a good idea for a present for someone who likes looking at slices of American history and who also appreciates a cleverly done story. ( )

It seemed rather appropriate to start the twenty twenties with a book set in the nineteen twenties. Caroline Preston's visual delight of a novel, The Scrapbook of Frankie Pratt, follows one young woman from her genteely poor, rural life to college at Vassar, on to New York and Paris, and finally back to her hometown through this captivating decade.

Presented as a scrapbook, the story of Frankie's young adulthood is laid out in these full color pages. Her doctor father dies young, leaving her mother to try and support Frankie and her younger brothers herself. Frankie is quite smart and is admitted to Vassar college on scholarship but without the additionally needed money to go, she determines to stay home and get a job. Caring for a wealthy old woman, she meets and falls for the woman's nephew, who turns out to be married. With her mother's intervention in this highly inappropriate situation, the old woman gives Frankie the $500 needed to go to college, to learn to write, and to start her adult life. The collected ephemera scattered through the pages tell of college life, expectations for women, attitudes towards other religions and races, and so much more during the Roaring Twenties as Frankie grows up and begins to live her life as a writer and chronicler of her time. She is very much a modern girl.

Because it is a scrapbook, the story is mostly visual with text being sparse and simple. The reader's understanding of the characterization of Frankie, her beliefs and her intentions, come through her comments about other people with whom she crosses paths and the things she chooses to immortalize in her scrapbook. The story is probably more complete and detailed than an actual scrapbook would be, needing to keep a plot threading through all of the pieces, but even so, the story itself is a bit thin. The reader does get to see Frankie's brushes with famous people and places, her triumphs and her heartbreaks, decisions good and bad, and general life in an intriguing age. The ending is a bit abrupt although it definitely is the end of one chapter of Frankie's life so perhaps ideal as a place to finish a real scrapbook. Overall the idea is whimsical and the execution is well done. It's a cute if slightly insubstantial story. ( )

Very interesting. An amazing collection of ephemera to tell this story ( )