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There is a life lull at the moment, as there always seems to be at the end of one year and the beginning of the next, wherein I have a hard time engaging with people, and books sing to me of their paper comforts. I let myself be led to a cozy bed (whenever I can) or a comfy chair wrapped in a blankie, and I read, read, read.

This year I find myself catching up on the books my kids read throughout the year, the ones I didn't have time to read right after they had (where's that Magic Tree House book, Brontë?). Frankie Pickle and the Mathematical Menace is one of those books, and the best surprise so far.

This is, I think, the best of the Frankie Pickle books. The other two we've read, Frankie Pickle and the Closet of Doom and Frankie Pickle and the Pine Run 3000 were fun, and Frankie's Mom and Dad taught him some fine lessons about personal hygiene and not giving up, but it is their lesson in self-confidence and the way they help him study for a redo of his math quiz (he bombed a first attempt because his lack of confidence led him into Arithmecca, an imaginary land of dangerous numbers, and he doodled away his quiz time) that make this the best of the bunch.

Eric Wight's artistic talent is as fun as usual, but it is the added seriousness of what he puts Frankie through and the way he has his characters teach Frankie the necessary lesson that elevate this book above its predecessors. There is fun to be had. In fact, the lessons depend on it, and the best part is that Frankie doesn't even know he's being taught. Isn't that the best kind of learning? I think so.