Franklin Endicott and the Third Key: Tales from Deckawoo Drive, Volume Six by Chris Van Dusen, Kate DiCamillo
Published by Candlewick Press on June 8, 2021
ISBN: 1536201812
Pages: 112
Genres: Realistic Fiction
Format: Chapter Book Fiction
Goodreads

A delightful addition to the Deckawoo Drive collection. DiCamillo and Van Dusen can do no wrong together. The story is gentle and literary and lovely, and the illustrations are a triumph.

The story revolves around Frank and his growing list of worries; his literal list of worries as he writes them down in his notebook. When his worries threaten to completely overwhelm him, he seeks help from a rather unlikely source: Eugenia Lincoln. Frank is calmed by Eugenia’s no-nonsense approach to worries: find a way to be productive and you will quiet those worries. It might have worked if she hadn’t taken him to the odd thrift shop where he meets proprietor Buddy Lamp and then accidentally procures the key from the title. The acquisition of this key is unsettling as Frank is unsure what it’s for and what to do with it. His list of worries grows. The plot is an ode to the calming power of stories and reading.  Mercy Watson takes a role as a therapy pig and though she doesn’t quite nail the part for Franklin’s purposes, she does snuggle up with Stella and she is quite an attentive listener when being read to.  “But to sit in the kitchen and read to someone he loved and to push back the darkness with a story–that was a wonderful thing.” Wonderful indeed. Recommend for all libraries.

Reviewed by Jill O’Connor, Merrill Memorial Library, Yarmouth