Francine Frensky

"Brain. Just give up. You can't win." (During an arguement between Brain and Francine)

Arthur

Francine Alice Frensky is a tomboy character in the book and television series Arthur. She is in third grade and attends Lakewood Elementary and is a Polish-American Jew.

Profile

 * Name: Francine Alice Frensky


 * Alias: Francine


 * Gender: Female


 * Age: 8


 * Parents: Oliver Frensky (father), Laverne Frensky (mother).
 * Pet: Nemo


 * Siblings: Catherine Frensky (older sister).
 * Other: Seth (cousin), Bubba Frensky (grandmother)
 * Likes: Sports, Movies, reading, ice cream. and hanging out with her friends.
 * Dislikes: Shopping, Cherry Soda, spiders

Appearance
Francine is an anthropomorphic monkey with short brown hair, which she puts two little yellow clips on to pin it up. She is typically seen wearing a red shirt, blue jeans and sneakers.

Originally, she wore a dress when she made her first appearance in the first book Arthur's Nose in 1976 and again in Arthur's Eyes in 1979. Her clothing was changed in Arthur's Valentine in 1980, and has remained in her subsequent appearances.

Personality and skills
Francine is very athletic and loves sports, especially soccer, football, kickball, and bowling. The only sports she doesn't excel at are badminton and figure skating (which she dismisses as "girly"). Francine is very determined, perhaps even restless, and if she doesn't have an immediate knack for a certain sport or skill, she can become frustrated. Arthur once described her as a "sore winner."

Francine is an excellent singer and drummer. However, she can't do both at the same time very well. Even though Francine does fairly well in school, she does struggle from time to time. At one point she even resorted to plagiarizing an entire paper (Even though one must note she didn't know that it was the wrong at the time, and had a nightmare of herself 20 years older where she was being sued for plagiarism). At the start of the show, Francine was very mean and would get angry easily (to the point where Buster and Brain would say that her head would pop off from anger {"Meek for a Week"). She was described as a jerk and a bully to fans of Arthur, and also once she called Fern a mouse for being too quiet. She could be seen as Arthur's on-and-off friend, as she generally treats him well, but will not hesitate to tease him for her own amusement when she is able. However, as the show progressed into later seasons Francine's personality has softened a bit. Francine has been at times very concerned for the well-being of her friends (Even for Arthur) sometimes when she is not in a teasing mood. Francine's favorite color is red. It also has been hinted that she has a crush on Arthur. In some episodes, it is even hinted that they are soulmates.

Francine also has a soft side. She will try to help her friends if they are having a big problem but sometimes if somebody says something about her whilst she's trying to help Francine some times misinterprets it as criticism and leaves the room.

Francine has also been shown to not like wearing dresses or having her hair done.

Family
Francine lives with her father and mother, and sister Catherine in Unit #3 at Westboro Apartments. She also has a pet cat named Nemo. Francine's extended family has been seen on a few occasions such as in Arthur's Perfect Christmas, Arthur's Backround Blues, and "Is That Kosher?." Her father works as a garbage man at the Elwood City Dump, which embarrassed her. In most segments, they were never revealed to own a car, except that Oliver occasionally picks up or drops off Francine to school in his garbage truck, although Laverne was driving a brown car that was briefly seen parked next to the Lakewood Elementary School sidewalk in Francine and the Feline. In Stolen Bike, after she outgrew the bike she had since she was in preschool, she asked her parents for a new bike, but Laverne told her they couldn't afford a new bike, due to their poverty. She ended up riding on Oliver's old bike he had since he was a teenager, but pretended it was stolen after she hid it behind the bushes and next to the trash can where a garbage truck picked it up. She told the truth to her father at the Elwood City Dump, and he finally restored the bike. She is constantly jealous of Catherine for being a more advanced horseback rider (Francine Frensky, Olympic Rider) and acrobatics (Francine's Big Top Trouble). She and Catherine also argued over room decorations, letting Catherine move into the living room (Francine Redecorates). However, Catherine can be sometimes helpful to her.

Friends

 * Arthur Read - Arthur is one of Francine's best friends. Though they are best friends, Francine seems to always pick on Arthur. In some episodes it seems Francine likes Arthur although in the episode Arthur and the Square Dance when Francine thinks that Arthur loves her she says that's the grossest thing she's ever heard although in the end it was revealed that it was just a rumor and Arthur and Francine vowed to never let a silly thing like love come between them again. In the episode And Now Let's Talk to Some Kids Arthur and Francine are shown to be an old couple in the future watching the video of them on the Magic Toolbox Segment: And Now Let's Talk to Some Kids.


 * Muffy Crosswire - Francine and Muffy met during second grade and became best friends when they found out they had the same middle name, Alice. They always manage to find something to do together even though they are different in many ways: Muffy is feminine and lives in a rich family, Francine is tomboyish and lives in a poor family. They often clash over Francine's tomboyish attitude or Muffy's selfishness, such as in the episode Muffy's New Best Friend and the TV special Arthur's Perfect Christmas but they have always made up in the end.

Francine is also friends with Binky, Buster, Fern, George, Jenna and Sue Ellen.