Franklin (Cartoon)

Bourgeois, P. (Writer), & Clark, B. (Illustrator). (1997-2004). Franklin [Animated television series]. Toronto, Canada: Nelvana Limited.

Interest Level: Ages 5 to 2
Genre: Cartoon,
Subjects/Themes: Friendship, Preschool Activities, Preschool Life, Animal Characters
Running Time: 22 minutes each episode

Plot: Franklin is a young 6 year old turtle who deals with issues that relate to those a preschooler would face.  Franklin is kind and often tries to think of other people's feelings.  Though sometimes he does need some help or reminding about the right thing to do from his friends or adults in his life.  The animation is done in bright colors similar to those in the book series.  Two stories are shown in each episode that are about 11 minutes long each.

Personal Thoughts: This cartoon is very age and developmentally appropriate for young preschoolers.  The story goes at a pace slow enough for young preschoolers to follow but fast enough that they don't get bored.  The concepts and morals of each story are explicitly stated so that children can easily understand them.  One of the episodes I watched explained that the saying "finders keepers" isn't really always a good thing.  Franklin finds a camera and wants to keep it but comes to understand that the family that lost the camera is probably very sad that they lost it.  Franklin even further learns his lesson when he loses his stuffed dog doll Max and is worries that someone else will "finders keepers" it.  The best part about the Franklin cartoons is their ability to explain ideas and concepts from a viewpoint that a preschooler can relate to.

Note: This series was based off of the original Franklin book series by Bourgeois.
Cartoon Website: Nick Jr.'s Franklin Website