Frantastic Voyage

Franny K. Stein, Mad Scientist #5

by Jim Benton

Franny's faithful lab assistant, Igor, has swallowed a doomsday device that is ready to go off at any moment! For any regular scientist, there is only one way to get the device out -- um...make that two ways.

But Franny K. Stein is no ordinary scientist, so she concocts her own way to get the device back and save her friend. With her miniaturization machine, Franny shrinks herself to the size of a pin and goes on a field trip like no other...through the body of a ticking time-dog! Fasten your seatbelts, it's going to be a bumpy ride!

Genres: Chapter Books, Humor, Childrens, Middle Grade, Science Fiction, Juvenile, Fantasy

112 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2005

About the author

Benton began his career in a custom design t-shirt shop where he started designing his own characters. At the same time, Jim did illustrations and artwork for magazines and newspapers. People magazine named him "the most visible cartoonist in America" .

Benton also created greeting cards and worked in the magazine and publishing industry. In 1998, his SpyDogs characters became an animated series, The Secret Files of the Spy Dogs, that aired on Fox Kids. Licensing his own creations brought them widespread attention on products, such as It's Happy Bunny, The Misters, Just Jimmy and more.

Benton currently lives in Michigan, where he operates out of his own studio.

Reviews

[GateGypsy · Rating 4 out of 5]

My son brought this home from the school library. I was surprised he was interested in reading it, but also pleased. I mean, it's about a girl (mad) scientist, it plays on my obsession with Frankenstein, and it totally parodies Fantastic Voyage in a super-hilarious, gross, appealing-to-kids-8-and-under way. My son's favourite parts take place inside the dog. I admit that my favourite line is also from inside the dog. Something along the lines of how, once inside the dog's stomach, Franny couldn't help but notice how truest pleasant the inside of a dog's nose was, compared to the stomach. I will definitely get my hands on as many of this series as I can and continue reading them with my boy :-)

[Jesus · Rating 3 out of 5]

my goal for this week was to finish the book because i want to read different one.the pages i read: was 1-65 and the the next day i finish.
the charater: she is the mad scientist and she creats different thing.in the book she has creat a devis and th dog eat it and she has to get it.
my goal for next week: want read a other book

[Dawn · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have been reading Franny K. Stein with my daughter who is a struggling reader. We each read and have a book discussion. This is her favorite so far. Franny gets herself into a sticky mess with her dog Igor who is also her lab partner. Igor accidently eats her "doomsday device" that's where the fun begins for Franny.

[Emily · Rating 5 out of 5]

Mr. Benton is back on top with this one on a subject near and dear to my heart - too much TV, with an especial focus on susceptibility to commercials! Particularly gross this time around as the last half of the book takes place inside a dog's nasal passages and stomach. Hilarious illustrations for the gigantic mass wedgie and the dog booger snowman as well as all the things that have gone wrong under Igor's not-so-capable assistance. I appreciate that a compromise is reached at the end to the satisfaction of both Franny & Igor. I'm liking their partnership more and more.

For more book reviews, come visit my blog, Build Enough Bookshelves.

[Margie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I started reading this with my daughter. It was late and I intended to read a couple of pages with her and then put her to bed. We read the entire book and I'm not ashamed to admit I laughed right along with her. I wish I'd had this when I was a child.

[Caroline · Rating 4 out of 5]

An entertaining, albeit shallow, book. Good to hook my kids on reading.

[Praveen · Rating 4 out of 5]

The doomsday exploded half of the world but it still made a happy ending what? But still the stpry was great!

[Alice · Rating 4 out of 5]

Inside of what seems like an ordinary little house in an ordinary little town, lives Franny, a young and slightly mad scientist and her sidekick Igor. Her bedroom is where she conducts her experiments that progressively become more and more complex. From bite sixed jelly donuts to venturing inside of her sidekick Igor's nose, there is no telling what Franny will get into next as she plots several crazy experiments right in her own bedroom laboratory.

I overall enjoyed reading this book, mostly because it reminded me of the graphic novels that I grew up reading. I have always enjoyed these types of graphic novels over ones with dialogue bubbles and inner thoughts of characters because it feels more natural reading top to bottom, left to right, and looking at the graphics as I need to. I would recommend this book to readers who are just beginning to read graphic novels because of the simple and easy to read layout of the text.

I would connect this book to one of my childhood favorites, "Captain Underpants." The text features are very similar in that you feel like you are still reading a regular novel, only with plenty of more pictures to guide your imagination of the story line. Although Captain Underpants typically does include an occasional "comic" look to some of the pages, it is also about young kids getting into adventures and sometimes trouble, much like Franny K. Stein.

"She worried about some evil secret government department stealing her Permanent Wave Machine and threatening everybody on earth with incredibly dumb-looking hairdos."

[Becky B · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fran builds a Doomsday Device to destroy all her inventions in the event that they could possibly fall into the wrong hands. When Igor makes Franny think that Doomsday has arrived and then accidentally swallows the bomb, Franny has to go deep inside Igor to save the day.

A play on a classic scifi book with some touches of humor. (I love that Franny slowly starts to realize that maybe a Doomsday Device isn't such a great idea after all.) Perfect for kids who are reluctant readers or who enjoy a little gross humor.

Notes on content: There's illustrations of stuff floating in Igor's stomach and Franny dreams of having fun in his mucus, so some gross humor.

[Nothing But Kids Books · Rating 5 out of 5]

As a successful mad scientist, Franny has come to realize that if her inventions fall into the wrong hands they could cause serious damage to the entire world To prevent that ever happening, she creates a Doomsday Device rigged to destroy her lab if things become too risky. Of course, the Doomsday Device is accidentally eaten by her assistant, Igor the dog, who's completely distracted with the TV Franny's given him to keep him out of her way during her most important experiments. The only solution? Shrink herself and take a fantastic Frantastic voyage to her dog's stomach to retrieve the device. But will she make it in time?

[Rebecca · Rating 4 out of 5]

Despite being an Igor-centric story, I didn’t think this was as good as some other Franny K. Stein books. I didn’t get the title at all, because I had never heard of the movie Fantastic Voyage and didn’t understand what it had to do with going into other people’s bodies. Additionally, nothing much happened in this novel compared to the other ones, which were just full of inventions and plot points.

[christa · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the darkest one yet. When Franny uses a shrinkerizer or whatever to climb up Igor's nostril and into his stomach, things could have gotten really weird. But Benton keeps it together and doesn't even wink in the direction of a poop joke. What a pro.

[Sabrina Davis · Rating 5 out of 5]

My 5 year old son and I read this in one sitting. Now he wants to read all of the Franny K. Stein books. I call that success! It was entertaining and action packed with lots of new vocabulary words as a bonus.

[Kathryn Williams · Rating 3 out of 5]

Read aloud with the boys. We love this series although I think the first few installments were funnier. We usually read these in one sitting and we always enjoy Franny's experiments. We especially like Igor.

[Sarah · Rating 3 out of 5]

I love how this series uses wordplay and does a humorous mini version of some classic sci-fi story. I don't know how much my students get that, but they love this series too.

[Queenie · Rating 5 out of 5]

i like the book because i have a lot of favorite parts and also i love love Igor he is so funny.

[Lyndsey · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was pretty gross.... but my kids liked it.

[Hope · Rating 5 out of 5]

Franny is on her adventure of mad scientist . Will Igor save her . Or she die in lava .Igor is kind of so funny . Igor has a felling . I never knew all dogs have felling s too

[Emma · Rating 5 out of 5]

I suspect that the inside of my stomach would look much like Igor's.

[Cassie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Best Franny yet!

[SISI LI]

this book is very interesting and is talking about Franny is very friendly to her dog and she goes to her dog body and explore.

[Amy · Rating 4 out of 5]

We read it in one day. Gross and fun and great dramatic tension.

[Katherine Librarian · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love this little series! I recommend it for 3rd-6th graders.

[Emilia · Rating 3 out of 5]

My second graders are doing a character study unit in book clubs and Franny K. Stein will be an excellent main character for discussion!

[Beth McCabe · Rating 5 out of 5]

I thought it was hilarious, and the students really liked it too!

[Arianna · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good read, but not my favorite

[Jessica S · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'd give this a 3, but based on my kids'reviews, they all gave it a 4. A quick, humorous read.

[Danielle · Rating 2 out of 5]

This one kind of leaned into the grossness, and just wasn't my thing.

[Katelyn · Rating 4 out of 5]

♥♥♥

[Remy · Rating 4 out of 5]

if rick sanchez were a preteen girl he would be franny. doomsday device for absolutely no reason.

kind of iconic honestly