Franklin's Surprise

Carol L. MacKay is a children’s librarian living in Bawlf, Alberta.

Franklin’s adventures are now available to emergent readers in the
Kids Can Read series. Franklin’s Reading Club and Franklin’s
Surprise are stories based on episodes from the television series, and
are intended for beginning readers who are gaining confidence with basic
reading skills.

In Franklin’s Reading Club, the youngster tries to track down the
latest Dynaroo book in all the usual places: the bookshop, the toy shop,
and the library. But all the copies are gone. When Franklin does find
one, he is continually interrupted by his friends, who want to be next
to read the story. Franklin solves the problem in a way that should win
the heart of any librarian: he starts a book club.

Franklin has a hard time listening to others in Franklin’s Surprise.
Readers will pick up on his mistake early on, and be in on the big
surprise. The lesson isn’t belaboured here, as it sometimes is in
other Franklin tales. This one’s just for fun.

In both stories, children will encounter the same vibrantly coloured,
high-quality illustrations that appear in the picture-book series. And,
of course, each story is introduced with the familiar, as in,
“Franklin can tie his shoes. Franklin can count by twos.” Sentences
are kept suitably short for this skill level, all under 10 words long,
with a good amount of repetition. Most children will be well acquainted
with the cast of characters, an advantage for reluctant readers in need
of familiar territory. Recommended.