Frankie and the Gift of Fantasy by Ruthy Ballard

I have always been captivated by the thought that there could be something beyond this world, yet connected by our very own.

'Frankie and the Gift of Fantasy' is set in the age range of being a children's book which is meant to help children think, evaluate and learn, not only about what is beyond our own world, but what happens on Earth today.

Frankie can be considered somewhat of a dreamer like any normal kid with some amount of creativity should be. The only problem is that when he needs to be practical according to his parents, his mind is instead, is up in the clouds. But this is not necessarily a bad thing, not when he is transported through a crack in the wall to a place called 'Urth'.

The writing can be seen as very colloquial, to the point that it feels as though not only are they omniscient of Frankie and the events that will take place, but it feels like they are reeling the events to only the reader. Almost like they are talking about the story in the same room as the reader, while having a tea and biscuit to share, but still asking for involvement in the conversation.

There are also moments where they encourage science and knowledge, by highlighting how some natural occurrences that may be happening in Urth can be put into practice when discussing how the Earth works. For instance, this could be from climate change to how an ocean tide would come in, dependent on the moon. These pieces of information can be seen as being very useful to the younger reader who may not have seen these terms before and would then allow to more questions as to why these things happen in our own world.

However, there were a few annoyances on my part. The returning phrases such as 'Yup Yup!' and 'Am I right, or am I right?' this vexed me so much and takes you away from the story a little bit. I also felt that it was a little hard to read at the beginning, but once the story gets going after it first sets itself up, I was completely fine. I also liked Frankie's relationship with some of the other characters such as Iktae and Ideth, even though at times I felt like he was a little bit of a spoilt brat trying to get his own way. These two characters seemed to ground him a little bit. I'm glad of the fate of one of the characters on Earth. His unfortunate demise really broke my heart and I was glad for him to make something of himself. This is a useful way of showing to the young reader that sometimes the justice system is wrong and we really need to wake up and see how we can change it for the better.

In the end, I have decided to give the book a three star.

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