A fourteen-year-old boy invents a comic-book fantasy world ruled by a book-dwelling insect named Frankenlouse I am called Nick. I was fourteen the year of this story, the year that changed my life . . . Nick Reber is a cadet with cartoonist dreams. Nick’s father, a by-the-books control freak, believes his son’s creative aspirations are a waste of time. As commanding officer of Blister Military Academy, he makes Nick march in step—or else. Nick misses his mother, who ran away, although she promised to one day send for him. As a form of escape, Nick creates a whole world inside his head—a comic strip featuring an insect that lives in the pages of Frankenstein. All the other book lice in the library fear Frankenlouse. But just like Nick, Frankenlouse feels trapped. He wants out of his book, just like Nick wants to escape—until a life-changing decision puts Nick on a collision course with his father. Narrated in Nick’s distinctive voice, Frankenlouse is about finding your authentic self. It’s a story of friendship, growing up, and the complicated bond between fathers and sons. This ebook features an illustrated personal history of M. E. Kerr including rare images from the author’s collection.
