Frances Bloom

Frances Bloom #1

by Katrina Nannestad, Marina Zlatanova (Illustrator)

Relish in mischief, adventure and the most unusual family ever, with the bestselling and multi-award-winning Katrina Nannestad.


Frances Bloom lives all alone in a cottage by the sea. She's having a marvellous time until her nasty teacher, Ms Thistle, learns there is no-one looking after her. Frances needs to find a family, quick smart, or she'll be sent away to Bleak Island Home for Unwanted Children and Dogs.

As hard as Frances looks, nobody meets her high standards ... until she stumbles across a large, honey-coloured bear raiding the rubbish bins ... and a garden gnome fishing in the flowerbed. Welcome, Grandma Maude and Grandpa Harold!

Together, this strange trio creates a new family, writing their own rules with each misadventure!

Delight in the cheeky antics of eight-year-old Frances Bloom with multi-award-winning Australian author Katrina Nannestad.

Genres: Humor, Childrens

112 pages, Kindle Edition

Published November 1, 2025

About the author

Katrina Nannestad is an award-winning Australian author. Her books include The Girl Who Brought Mischief, the Girl, the Dog and the Writer series, the Olive of Groves series, the Red Dirt Diaries series, the Lottie Perkins series and Bungaloo Creek.

Katrina grew up in country New South Wales in a neighborhood stuffed full of happy children. Her adult years have been spent teaching, raising boys, perfecting her recipe for chocolate-chip bickies and pursuing her love of stories. She now lives near Bendigo with her family and an exuberant black whippet called Olive.

Reviews

[Edie]

very fun book for kids! very silly! i liked the pictures

[Danielle McGregor]

This was a bit polarising between my children … 2.5 stars through to 5 stars. Think it was a bit young for my 10 year old and he didn’t like all the lying in the book. It was a bit silly and you really need to suspend your belief. My 6 year olds enjoyed it far more! A girl adopts some bears as her grandparents so that she isn’t an orphan anymore and her teacher can’t send her away! It had some Pippi Longstocking vibes!!!

I didn’t love the messages of the book unfortunately.

[Middle Grade Musings]

‘And Frances Bloom set off to turn her lie into the truth.’

MGM Review #47 - Frances Bloom - @katrina_nannestad & @marinazart - @harperkidsau

I just loved Katrina’s historical war fiction novels, so I was excited to read something a little different from her, a book that is perfect for the reluctant or younger reader.

After sending her grumpy and bossy parents away, Frances Bloom now lives all alone in a cottage by the sea. This should be great for Frances, right? Wrong! Her awful teacher, Ms Thistle, is all over her situation and hatches a plan to send Frances away to the Bleak Island Home for Unwanted Children and Dogs. Frances has to find a set of parents quick smart and stumbles upon a large bear and a garden gnome to assume the role. What ensues is a chaotic adventure full of twists and turns. Will Frances manage to win over her new parents and keep living the good life or will Ms Thistle have her way and send Frances to a lifetime of gloom?

Ha, what a funny adventure this was. Katrina has created what I imagine will be a very popular character. Frances is a hoot. She’s fierce, she’s fearless, and she’s a little wild. I love how she goes toe to toe with her mean teacher and doesn’t take a backwards step (side note - I don’t condone this behaviour though 😂😉). The way Katrina found multiple ways to incorporate the ‘strong silent type’ Garden Gnome into the story was very clever and brought about a lot of laughs. I was also laughing at the range of comical names (Roger Rowboat, Mr and Mrs Short, Ms Thistle), and who wouldn’t laugh at a chase down scene in flippers or a large bear fluttering her eye lashes and blowing a kiss in the middle of a dress up.

Well done Katrina on a successful book 1. This one was a hoot and I’m sure there are more laughs to come in the rest of the series.

[whatbooknext]

Frances Bloom enjoys doing things her way. Swimming in her pyjamas before school, not brushing her wild hair and wearing whatever she likes.

Of course, to be able to do this, she had to post her parents somewhere else, so she could do as she pleased. It is a wonderful life.

When her nasty, dull, teacher Ms Thistle announces all her Year 3 children must invite their parents along to the upcoming school concert, Frances realises she must come up with a plan. Will grandparents do? It’s either that or Ms Thistle’s alternative of the Bleak Island Home for Unwanted Children & Dogs!

Frances needs to find some grandparents for her plan to work. She is a lot smarter than her devious teacher, and her new grandparents are a little different to most. Can she outsmart Ms Thistle?


Katrina Nannestad is an accomplished, award winning writer for children and Frances Bloom reminds me much of another title by this author – The Girl Who Brought Mischief. Both funny and with strong female main characters, Frances Bloom is for a slightly younger audience.

Requiring new grandparents is tricky to avoid trouble, but convincing others that a large, clumsy, honey coloured bear, and a fishing garden gnome fit the bill is hilarious, clever and a tiny bit bonkers. This makes Frances Bloom all the more readable for 6+, and would make a great read aloud in a year 3 classroom.

Finding a picture every time you turn the page is a treat, showing the cheeky, friendly, confident nature of Frances herself, and the sourness of her nemesis teacher. Throw in a large greedy bear causing chaos wherever she goes, a calm, quiet garden gnome and a giant pumpkin, and this early middle grade novel is a delight.

Age – 6+

[Natalie]

This book was such a disappointment. My 9yo son read it aloud to me as the January selection of his book club and we were both genuinely disturbed by the values it presents to children.
The main character, Frances, repeatedly lies, steals, blames others for her mistakes, behaves unsafely and treats others poorly.
My son, who grew up on Blyton, is used to characters like Frances getting their just desserts, learning why their behaviour is wrong, having an epiphany and changing. None of that happens in this book, making it incredibly unsatisfying and keeping Frances as a flat character, rather than one that grows and evolves and becomes more likeable. She just gets away with all of her horrid behaviour.
For a kids book, this was a real shame. The implicit message given was:be selfish, do what you want and you’ll get away with it. As my son has a strong moral compass, this really didn’t sit right with him and actually made him very angry while reading the book.
Families looking for children’s books that encourage accountability, empathy, or personal growth should steer clear of this one.
In the end we both found ourselves sympathising with Miss Thistle — my son said he would be interested in a sequel called ‘Revenge of Miss Thistle’ where she comes back to seek justice and is triumphant.

[Jill Smith]

Frances Bloom is unique and fun-loving. Her parents were bossy, so she posted them, in a large box, to the South Sandwich Islands. And things ran smoothly at Apple Cottage without them.

Frances goes for a swim in the sea each morning. She rides her scooter to school after that. Ms Thistle, her teacher, doesn't like her.

‘You will have to bring your parents to meet me,’ Ms Thistle told her.

‘I do not live alone,’ said Frances. ‘I live with Grandma and Grandpa.’

Then Frances goes off to find a Grandma and Grandpa.

Ms Thistle plans to get rid of Frances for good.

That’s when Grandma Maud and Grandpa Harold join her in the cottage.

The children in Frances' grade meet her grandparents. They laugh at Grandma Maude juggling. They ask questions, and then they write a story, for homework, using their imagination. Frances is a good teacher.

I loved this quirky story and am certain kids will love it too.

[Jennie]

Frances Bloom is a fantastical account of a young girl living without parents and living out her imaginative and creative life doing as she wishes, when she wishes and without thought or care for those around her.

I know this is meant to be taken as a fantastical romp but I struggled as Frances has such total disregard for the feelings of others and her actions are so absurd and at times harmful, that I just couldn't make that leap into an imaginative world. I also struggled with the very predictable and very tired and over used notion of a totally tyrannical teacher getting her comeuppances and the idiocy of the adults around her.

[Penny]

You have to suspend reality for this one - and hold on to your sense of humour!

Frances is a strong-willed personality - so much so, she exiles her parents to the South Sandwich Islands so she can do what she wants all day! When her teacher questions her home situation, she enlists the help of a bear and a garden gnome to impersonate her grandparents so she can continue to live by herself... (I did say you have to suspend reality.)

Some have criticised Frances as she doesn't get her comeuppance for being so wild and unruly... but the situations she ends up in ARE funny and I do believe children aren't so stupid as to think that her behaviour could be real and acceptable.

[Ron]

A very enjoyable book about what Frances Bloom gets up to because she doesn't have a mother or father. A great read for Year 3 students, as long as they don't copy her

[Francesca Pashby]

Pippi Longstocking for the 21st century!

This was adorable. Frances needs grandparents ... and a garden gnome and a large, hungry bear will suffice.

Charming illustrations too.

[CeCe]

Katrina Nannestad is one of my favourite children’s authors and this book was lots of fun to read.