FRANKLIN
Maclean’s, 11 December 1995: Front cover. Left, Paulette Bourgeois, Right Brenda Clark.
“Franklin” began as a story “The Turtle They Called Chicken” that Paulette Bourgeois sent into Kids Can Press Ltd. At first this turtle was not only afraid of the dark but was also bullied. It was decided to narrow the problems down to one, fear of the dark. The title was changed to “Franklin in the Dark. Kids Can Press Ltd. selected Brenda Clark who had already illustrated two books for them, to illustrate the new story. The result was a success. Franklin in the Dark sold 10,000 copies in its first year and went on to be a popular book series. By 1997, the series had sold fifteen million copies in thirteen countries in ten different languages. “Franklin” is named “Benjamin” for Québec’s French language readers. There followed merchandise spin-offs like book bags, tee-shirts, puppets and an educational CD-ROM.
In late 1995, the film rights to Franklin were purchased by Nelvana, and animated by Kurt Lehner. The television series was distributed in North and Latin America and Europe. In addition, there have been two feature length movies and a stage production. In 2003, a Franklin Children’s Garden, with a place for story-telling, a tree house, a turtle pond and a snail trail was created.
The Franklin stories involve an anthropomorphized turtle dealing with childhood problems and learning social skills. It is interesting that Franklin is the only character to have a human name. The rest of the characters have species names such as bear, beaver, goose, fox etc.
On 11 May 2012, Canada Post Corp. honoured this character with a first day cover, commemorative stamps and post cards. It also created a Party Invitation Package which included invitations, envelopes, stickers and a package of stamps that children could use to mail invitations to their friends.
MEDIUM:
BOOK TEXT & GRAPHIC:
Published by Kids Can Press. Writer Paulette Bourgeois. Illustrator Brenda Clark.
| Franklin Helps Out. 2000.
Franklin Is Bossy.1993. Franklin In The Dark: 25th Anniversary Edition. 2011.. Franklin’s Christmas Gift. 1998. |
Franklin’s Halloween. 1997.
Franklin’s School Play. 1996. Franklin’s Thanksgiving. 2001. Franklin’s Valentines. 1998. Finders Keepers for Franklin. 1997. |
NEWSPAPER:
The Expositor [Brantford], 2November 1993: “The Bedtime Story – Franklin In The Dark”. Paulette Bourgeoise & Brenda Clark: B6. (A synopsis of the illustrated story).
MERCHANDISE:
Canada Post Franklin/Benjamin Commemoratives & Party Invitation Pack
SOURCE:
Article book:
Franklin In The Dark: 25th Anniversary Edition. 2011: 42-47.
Maclean’s, 11 December 1995: “A million-dollar turtle”. Writ., Diane Turbide: 50-51.
GALLERY:
Franklin and his friends, Franklin Is Bossy, Front cover.