The Franklin Annual, Vol. 2

Theresa Paltzat is the Smart Search librarian at the Edmonton Public
Library.

Franklin’s Big Lift-and-Learn Book is a sturdy large-format book
containing five scenes, with a total of 60 flaps that pull up to reveal
smaller pictures. Franklin is teaching his little sister Harriet about
shapes, colours, counting, and opposites. The first scene is set in
Franklin’s bedroom; each flap is a different shape and flips up to
reveal the name of that shape. A scene in the farmers’ market has
flaps that reveal the names and colours of the fruits and vegetables. In
a meadow scene, children will learn numbers and nature by turning up
numbered flaps, behind which are forest creatures such as ladybugs and
butterflies. Younger children may need help to lift the flaps at first,
but most children will enjoy the colourful scenes and the hidden
pictures.

The Franklin Annual, Vol. 2 is a hardcover collection of four
previously published stories as well as 16 pages of games and activities
related to the stories. The stories, first published in 2001 as
adaptations of Franklin TV episodes, are “Franklin Plants a Tree,”
“Franklin’s Birthday Party,” “Franklin Runs Away,” and
“Franklin and the Babysitter.” The activities accompanying each
story include word scrambles, mazes, word searches, and colouring pages.
For a child’s personal collection, the stories will still hold appeal
even after the activity pages have been completed.

Both of these Franklin volumes are more appropriate for personal
collections than for libraries. Recommended.