My Sibling The Mythical Being! discussion

Hey guys! I thought I'd create this discussion as a place we can talk about the setting of the My Sister the Vampire books, Franklin Grove. Would you like to visit/live there? What do you think of the school, the Meat and Greet, the museum or Mister Smoothie? Discuss these things and more here!

Please be aware that this discussion may contain spoilers for later books. ;)

Something I noticed in one of the later books (I think it was Secrets and Spies {MSTV #15}) was that the museum in Franklin Grove was kind of described to be all old and spooky. I might be wrong but I thought that earlier on in the series it was described to be quite a modern building...? Weird.

Anyway, here's a question. If you were to go to Mister Smoothie, which smoothie would you order?

The ones I can find right now are:

-Mocha Choca Latte
-Beauty Boosting Blueberry
-Tutti Frutti
-Rock and Roller
-Cherry-o
And of course, the one and only Twist and Shout. :D

Well first and foremost, I would order some kind of fruit smoothie. Tutti Frutti sounds yummy.

As for the museum I always imagine it as an old, grand spooky place. There is a chance the modern museum is a different one?

I'd go for a fruit smoothie too, I think. Although maybe I'd try out a Mocha Choca Latte sometime just to see what it tasted like. The one I'm mostly leaning towards is Cherry-O, because I love cherries. But Twist and Shout would be fun!

Hmm, I suppose you could be right about the museum. I'll have to look out for it when I read the book it was originally in (I wanna say Vampalicious? {MSTV #4}) again at some point.

This isn't 100 percent related to this thread but I wasn't sure where to put it. In Howl-oween (MBTW #3) Debi mentions that Franklin Grove is in a different state to Pine Wood. Does anyone remember it being mentioned what state either of the (I'm assuming fictitious) towns are set in?

Found more Mister Smoothie smoothies from Take Two(MSTV#5):
-Crushed Blushed
-Red Lipsmacker
-Pinkaholic

According to the internet, Franklin Grove is in Illinois and Pine Wood is in Florida, but the books haven't mentioned anything specific about which state they are located.

That's an interesting question, Sophie. With that and general comments throughout the series they do seem to be in the USA, I think we can safely say that much - even though I always wondered why since Sienna Mercer is from Canada. I agree with you, S!X - I don't remember the state ever being said outright in the books. I never thought to look it up on the internet though, I always just assumed they were made up! If Franklin Grove is real I need to go there. :D

I don't know why, but I always imagined them to be in neighbouring states if not in the same one (which I guess is ruled out now by this Debi quote). I suppose it's just as likely that they could be as far away as Illinois and Florida though. Does anyone remember why Debi had to move? That might give us a clue as to where they are. I'll make sure to look out for any hints while reading the books from now on. This is a cool discussion!

S!X wrote: "According to the internet, Franklin Grove is in Illinois and Pine Wood is in Florida, but the books haven't mentioned anything specific about which state they are located. "

That's cool that there are actually places called Franklin Grove and Pine Wood in the USA. It would be so weird to visit them! I imagine it's a coincidence though maybe Sienna Mercer did visit them and get inspiration.

Daisy wrote: "Does anyone remember why Debi had to move? That might give us a clue as to where they are."

I do not, maybe because her dad knew something about werewolves so he wanted to be there to look out for strange things? That would be a terrible reason to Debi for them to move though so it probably wasn't that.

@Sophie
Yeah, i agree. Sienna Mercer's bio mentioned that she enjoys traveling, so maybe Franklin Grove and Pine Wood are based on real places.
I wonder if she ever visited Transylvania.

Yeah, I'm not sure if that was the reason they moved... it might have been part of the appeal of Pine Wood for Debi's dad though. I think I remember them talking about it in Tail Spin (MBTW#4) so I'll look out for it when I reread that one next.

If Sienna Mercer didn't visit Transylvania she did an amazing job of describing it! She also goes pretty in-depth on Hollywood (or L.A or somewhere like that... I can't quite remember), in Star Style (MSTV#8). I wonder if she's been there too. They visit London in Double Disaster (MSTV#13) as well, but I've always imagined she hasn't actually been there since I have multiple times and it wasn't very similar! It'd be great to question Sienna Mercer about this.