Caitlin Smith

Franklin's Rocket Team Caitlin Smith

Marc Notes: Based on the character by Paulette Bourgeois and Brenda Clark. Publisher Marketing: Franklin is excited because his friend Rabbit is coming over to spend the night with him in his backyard. Franklin's dad has set up an amazing rocket ship tent, and Franklin can't wait to play space travel with Rabbit and use all the cool equipment he and his dad have prepared, including fins for steering, a satellite dish, a laser and "zero-gravity grabbers." There's just one problem. Franklin's sister, Harriet, keeps interrupting them to ask Rabbit to play with her instead, and Franklin finds himself getting more and more angry about not getting to play with his friend. But Franklin eventually discovers that Rabbit actually wants to play with Harriet because he misses his own many brothers and sisters. Once Franklin's understanding grows, he finds a creative way to include Harriet in their rocket ship games to make Rabbit feel more at home. The lasting appeal of the Franklin and Friends series is the way the stories feature very familiar and realistic problems and challenges faced by small children in their everyday lives, along with ideas for how children can work the problems out for themselves. Based on the popular, 3D-animated television show Franklin and Friends, the terrific books in this series will appeal to a ready-made audience of pre-readers. But this book also stands on its own as a delightful read-aloud story, with the added bonus of the wonderful, gentle character education lessons it teaches about empathy, tolerance and inclusiveness.