Review: Franklin Endicott and the Third Key by Kate DiCamillo

Image: Candlewick Press

Franklin Endicott and the Third Key by Kate DiCamillo. Illustrated by Chris Van Dusen. Tales from Deckawoo Drive series. 104 p. Candlewick Press, June 8, 2021. 9781536201819. (Review of finished copy courtesy of publisher.)

Franklin Endicott of Deckawoo Drive is a worrier, but not just a garden variety worrier. He keeps lists of his worries, then alphabetizes them. His list is long and, on top of that, he suffers from vivid nightmares. He finds some comfort visiting the Lincoln sisters. They have a wonderful set of encyclopedias that he is welcome to use anytime. 

One day, he accompanies Eugenia Lincoln to Odd Buddy Lamp's thrift store to get a key duplicated. Eugenia leaves Franklin in the store to wait while she finishes her errands. Franklin is quite disturbed by the menacing and eclectic items for sale. Items like a bug stuck forever in amber were unsettling enough, but the stuffed weasel and jar of eyeballs just sent Franklin right over the edge of anxiety, not to mention that Odd Buddy Lamp himself was just, odd! When Franklin discovers a third key in Miss Lincoln's envelop, she sends him back to the thrift store ALONE to find out why. 

I can't prove this, but I'd like to think I could spot something written by Kate DiCamillo were I handed a manuscript blind. She takes such care with her characters and often speaks to the heart of childhood wants and worries. Franklin is so endearing, made more so by Chris Van Dusen's illustrations.

I especially loved that Buddy gifts Franklin a book of short stories and was tickled that the book included the story, Eleven, a story that we read with our sixth graders this year. It really is quite amazing what Ms. DiCamillo manages to accomplish in just over one hundred pages. 

I've been out of the elementary scene for quite a while and so, lost track of Mercy Watson and her spin-offs. Franklin Endicott and the Third Key is volume six of the Tales from Deckwoo Drive series and I promised myself to read volumes one through five. Franklin Endicott and the Third Key releases next Tuesday, June 8.