Book Review: Anybody Here Seen Frenchie? by Leslie Connor

Title: Anybody Here Seen Frenchie?

Author: Leslie Connor

Genre: Realistic Middle Grade Fiction

Number of Pages: 336

Rating: B-

Recommended?: Yes

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  Aurora is a happy-go-lucky, hyperactive 11-year-old girl whose best friend, Frenchie, is autistic and non-verbal. When Aurora makes a few new friends, she tries to keep Frenchie from being left out but their dynamic inevitably changes. One day during school Frenchie disappears and the community bands together to find him.

 

 

Anyone Here Seen Frenchie? is primarily told from Aurora’s perspective, but it also includes third-person POV chapters about Frenchie and a variety of the people who live in their town. Aurora was a charming character (I thought she might have had ADHD since she was so hyper and had so much trouble paying attention) and I enjoyed reading about her rapport with Frenchie.

 

 

     I did not feel like the other perspectives added much to the story, including Frenchie’s. Frenchie’s chapters didn’t add much to his character either and you didn’t get to know anything substantial about the minor characters. Aurora should have been the focus and by constantly following where Frenchie was going the author killed any suspense there might have been for the reader about his whereabouts.

 

     

    I never felt worried for Frenchie because it never felt like he was in much danger, even though he fell into a quarry and almost drowned at one point. Everybody in Frenchie’s community was blandly nice and supportive to an extreme degree and all said things like ‘oh gosh’ and ‘geez.’ They felt like characters from an old sitcom who would all walk to each other’s houses and dish out milk and cookies.

 

 

      I didn’t think any of the characters needed to be bad people but I would have liked some of them to have… more of an edge, I guess? Mostly I wish the book had focused on Aurora because she was the only interesting character, or at least developed Frenchie a little more. He wasn’t a total stereotype of a kid with autism but at the same time, I didn’t feel like there was anything ‘extra’ about his character to make him feel more like a real person.

 

 

      It felt like the author just skimmed the surface of his potential. This was an extremely fast-paced and quick read and the sense of place was strong. I really felt like I was in that community, seeing the sites and running into the elusive Piebald deer. The side characters and relationships just felt a little underdeveloped and I think that overall it could have been a lot more than what it was.