Trigger warning: Period typical homophobia and transphobia, period typical racism, a couple characters were disowned by their parents before the events of the book, main characters’ parent is dead before the book begins, talks of being displaced from a country, depiction of the aftermath of a hate crime committed against a gay man.
Frankie and Bug is a middle grade novel published in 2021 by author Gayle Forman. It’s the summer of 1987 and all ten year old Bug wants to do is go to the beach with her older brother. But her brother wants to hang out with his own friends, and her mother is busy working, so the only person she has to hang out with is Frankie, her weird neighbor’s even weirder nephew who’s visiting from Ohio for the summer. They get off on the wrong foot at first, but soon find some common ground and slowly become friends over the summer. But after tragedy strikes Frankie and Bug find themselves learning important lessons about each other, and the world. Like what it means to be your true self, and how to be a good ally for others. That even if life isn’t fair, we can all do our part to make it more just.
This is author Gayle Forman’s first middle grade novel, and one her first to explore LGBT themes, especially themes on being transgender. I read a few of her YA novels back when I was a teenager myself (If I Stay, Just One Day, etc.) so I was curious to see how she would tackle those themes, especially for a younger audience. I was a bit disappointed that the novel was exclusively told through Bug’s POV, as she is not the queer character. This is probably a spoiler as it’s not revealed until about halfway through the novel, but I can’t talk about the queer themes of this story without mentioning it. Frankie is transgender, female to male. He doesn’t have the exact word for it, this being 1987 and things like that weren’t talked about as often back then, but he knows deep down that he is a guy, that he likes dressing up in boy clothes and being called “Frankie” and using he/him pronouns. I did like how Bug, for her part, is completely fine with this throughout the whole novel. There is no point in the book where she has to learn that “it’s ok to be trans” or something like that, she already knows that. Her internal monologue is basically “well, he doesn’t seem like a girl, and he’s told me that he’s not one, even though he has female private parts, so he must not be a girl.” Her journey in learning to be a better ally is learning to listen to what Frankie wants and how he wants her to help instead of just doing what she thinks he wants, which is a good lesson and I’m glad it was included in the book. I just wish we got some chapters from Frankie’s POV too. I think it’s important for queer people to be the main focus in their own stories, instead of mainly focusing on their allies. But part of the point of this book is to teach young people how to be better allies for the marginalized people around them, and seeing things from Bug’s perspective helps drive this message home. So I wouldn’t eliminate Bug’s perspective, I just think that this novel would’ve worked better if it was told in both perspectives, from the points of view of both Bug and Frankie, just like the title. (Though the author herself is cisgender, so maybe she felt that she wouldn’t be able to represent the inner thoughts of a transgender character accurately? I don’t know. I still would’ve liked to see both perspectives, but maybe some other people would feel differently.)
My disappointment in Bug being the only POV character was lessened somewhat once the book delved in more about her own marginalization, however. When I picked up this book, I didn’t know that it wasn’t just about queer and trans identities, it also delved into themes about having a different racial identity from the norm, specifically latin american origin, as well as themes about being an immigrant, and/or a refugee. Now, I am white, and have not immigrated from anywhere, and the author is also a cis, white person. I know she has done research into both of these communities, and I personally think they are respectful portrayals, the characters identities are important to them, but it’s not all that they are, but it’s possible that a trans person or someone who is latino may catch some things that I did not, so that’s something to keep in mind.
As stated previously, Bug is also a minority. Her father, who she’s never met, was from El Salvador, making Bug half Salvidorian. She looks a lot like her mother, so she can pass for white, while her brother Daniel cannot. A large part of the book is about her accepting her Salvadoran ancestry and wearing it proudly. For example, Bug has an encounter with some racist skinheads near the beginning of the novel and near the end. The first time, she keeps her head down, pretends to be white to escape their attention. The second time, she openly admits that she’s Salvadoran, “descended from the mighty Aztecs!” By the end, she’s openly identifying as Salvadoran and starts to learn Spanish, wanting to connect more with that part of herself. So this isn’t just a queer tale, it’s a story about accepting yourself and being who you are, even when the world tries telling you not to. And that’s not an experience that’s exclusive to the queer community.
Another issue I had with the book is that it had a very slow paced beginning. This book is a lot more of a character study than a plot driven novel, so most of it is just Frankie and Bug going about their summer. Not a whole lot happens at the beginning. There is a loose plot of Frankie and Bug trying to catch the serial killer “The Midnight Marauder”, but this isn’t like an 80’s adventure movie where a group of kids have an actual chance at catching a killer. Their investigation is very childish, consisting of things like watching the house of a reclusive guy in their neighborhood to see if he goes outside when the murders happen, and Frankie has a map of all the places the killer has struck and looks for patterns, stuff like that. Even Bug at one point admits that she never really expected to catch the killer. So the first half kind of bored me and I felt it was a bit of a slog to get through. The story takes a turn about halfway through, when Frankie’s uncle gets seriously injured, and, in my opinion, this is when the book gets interesting. Their investigation changes as they try to figure out what happened and who’s responsible for it, and that investigation is the one that exposes many of the injustices in the world, and this is where Bug gets to learn more about where she came from and who she is.
I think Gayle Forman was very purposeful in which minorities she wanted to represent in this novel, as both the queer community and latino immigrants had it rough back in the 80’s, with events such as the AIDs crisis and wars in places such as El Salvador, Nicaragua and Chile, which I didn’t know about until I read this book. And there are still issues plaguing those communities today, even more so than when this book was written back in 2021. Transphobia is on the rise, with more and more laws being passed dictating things such as who can use what bathroom and who can play on what sports team. And things are looking rough for immigrants, with organizations like ICE getting more funding and power. And yet, this book tells us to not stop hoping, that things have gotten much better for the LGBT community since the 80’s. That the world can change, sometimes with breathtaking speed. But it can also stay stubbornly the same, repeating the same wrongs in new ways. Still, there are reasons to hope, and it’s important to do your part in trying to create change in this world. To try and make the world a better place. Especially the young people who this book is geared towards. I’ll leave you with a quote from the author, who explains it better than I ever could. “Change can take a long time, but things do, eventually, change for the better, even if sometimes it seems like for every step forward, there is one backward. What it doesn’t mean is that we can all kick up our heels and just wait. “Hope” is a verb, something you dream of, and work for. “Ally” is a verb, something you become by showing up, doing the work. It’s up to all of us to hope, to ally, and as Bug’s mother says, to hurry toward justice.”
Media can be a form of community interaction in the way that individuals can remain informed as to what is happening within their community. If you are questioning your identity, would like to discuss coming out, or need local LGBTQ+ resources, please contact the National LGBT Help Center through the support services listed below.
Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender (LGBT) National Hotline: 1-888-843-4564
LGBT National Coming Out Support Hotline: 1-888-688-5428 (1-888-OUT-LGBT)
LGBT National Youth Talkline: 1-800-246-7743 (1-800-246-PRIDE)
LGBT National Senior Hotline: 1-888-234-7243
You can also reach out online at www.LGBThotline.org/chat
