Franny K. Stein facts for kids

Franny K. Stein is not your average girl. She prefers poison ivy to daisies and piranha to goldfish, and when Franny jumps rope, she uses her pet snake. This makes it almost impossible for Franny to make friends. But Franny's a scientist. And inspired by her favorite teacher, she undertakes one of the most difficult and dangerous experiments ever conceived. It's called "trying to fit in." Franny's experiment seems to be a tremendous success, and she's enjoying newfound popularity, when a freak garbage-pail incident creates a monster that only a mad scientist can defeat. Whatever will Franny do? Will she go back to being her creepy old self in order to save the day? And will her experiment be doomed if she does? In Franny K. Stein, artist Jim Benton has created a pint-size heroine with enough pluck to face down any challenge — be it making friends, thrashing monsters, or being herself. See Franny go from fiendish to fabulous and back again! Okay, just kidding.

Franny's mom says every mad scientist needs a lab assistant. So for Valentine's Day Franny gets just that: a Lab assistant. Except Igor isn't a pure Lab. He's also part poodle, part Chihuahua, part beagle, part spaniel, part shepherd — and all thumbs. Franny is fuming. She doesn't even need an assistant. What's she supposed to do with a good-for-nothing one like Igor? And things get even worse when a giant, fifty-foot, arrow-shooting cupid starts causing trouble all over town. Franny knows it's up to her — and only her — to save the day. Or is it?

There's nothing better than being a mad scientist — at least according to Franny. So she's making her mission to help her classmates discover their own inner mad scientists. All Franny needs for her latest experiment are a few volunteers, a half-completed two-headed robot, and an invisibility potion. However, this experiment just might prove to be Franny's most difficult. What do you do when your classmates don't know anything about mad science and there's a doubly dumb robot running amok to prove it?

Franny has invented broccoli that eats itself and a hamster-powered tricycle. But now she's decided to change her middle name. What's so difficult about that? Franny is about to find out!

Franny's faithful canine assistant swallows a doomsday device that is ready to go off at any moment. With her miniaturization machine, she shrinks herself and goes on a field trip through the body of a ticking time dog.

Being a mad scientist in the modern world is very hard work. With so much that needs to be done in such a short period of time, multitasking can get way out of hand. Franny needs some additional help. But for Franny there is only one person in the world she trusts to help her with her experiments -- herself. So she acquires assistance the mad-scientist way, by building a few real, live, steel-plated Franbots.

If they voted for her, people were giving Franny all the control she wanted. But Franny's platform doesn't have the same appeal as her competitors who are offering new playground equipment, so she finds another platform...The Frandidate. Made of DNA samples from a dog, a chameleon and a parrot, along with a scrap of carpet (so she'll know where people stand), Franny creates the perfect candidate who says and does exactly what people want to hear! But soon her suit starts making promises she knows she won't be able to keep and Franny realizes she might have gone too far. The Frandidate will give you everything you want, science, humor and some old fashioned politics!

Franny K. Stein isn’t a fan of glamour. She doesn’t style her hair, the thought of wearing makeup makes her want to gag, and she couldn’t care less about wearing dressy dresses when she’d much prefer her lab coat. But sometimes Franny wonders if her mom wishes she were different. Which gives Franny an idea…for an experiment! What if she can turn the beauty products her mom loves into something more exciting? Every experiment has its experimental error, and when Franny’s hair takes on a life of its own, Franny must save the day (and her hair) to finally realize her mom loves her just the way she is.

Franny K. Stein isn’t a good baker. But when she sees that the fundraisers for the art and music departments at her school aren’t making enough money, she decides to take matters into her own hands. Using her genius mind and kitchen, which is really just another type of laboratory, she sets out to create The Most Delicious Muffin On Earth! Sales, of course, go through the roof. But bad things can happen when people become exposed to the best thing they’ve ever tasted. They can become...overenthusiastic.