Review: Frankie and Friends: The Big Protest by Christine Platt Illustrated by Alea Marley

 

Synopsis

Young reporter Frankie and her news crew of beloved toys learn why and how people protest as this engaging series continues.

There’s breaking news on TV at Frankie’s house—a protest to demand justice! Frankie’s mama, a journalist, gets a call to cover the story, and Frankie wants to do her own reporting, too. But what is a protest, exactly, and why do people do it? Along with her news crew, including Farrah the doll, Dan the teddy bear, and Nina the cat, Frankie prepares a feature story by doing research and conducting interviews with Papa and big sister Raven. And when the toys decide to have their own protest in support of the local movement, Frankie is on the scene to help make signs, march, and, of course, get the scoop! In this latest installment of the winning series, Frankie explores big ideas like racial injustice and activism with her supportive family and learns more about journalism in the process. Young newshounds will learn along with Frankie through all-caps vocabulary terms and a glossary at the back.

Review

Frankie and Friends is a delightful story about Frankie, her family, and her toys who all talk and engage with her. Watching Frankie learn about protest and injustice was a delight and heartbreaking at the same time. While I'm a believer that children can handle more than we give them credit for and deserve to know the truth about the world (at an age appropriate level), it breaks my heart that kids have to learn about these things. 

We are able to watch Frankie try to process what she's learned from a newscast with her family but also in the privacy of her own room with her friends/toys. I think portraying the story from the perspective of unfairness is something that kids really understand. We begin to talk to kids about sharing and playing fair before they can talk, so while we readers can assume that something horrible happened to the man mentioned in the newscast, Frankie is allowed to begin to process what she saw through the concept of something she can easily understand.  

"Think of how we each get two cookies every Saturday night. Imagine how you'd feel if Frankie gave you only one cookie and gave the rest of us two."

She is then able to gather information about the concept of protest and the feelings of people who see, and believe in protest by interviewing her father and sister. The definitions at the end were the cherry on top. Not every adult knows how to talk to children about topics like these, I am eternally for the authors that help guide the way!

This is such an amazing, well written story introducing young readers to concepts they may be more prepared for than we give them credit for.