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Franklin and Luna #3
Franklin and Luna and the Book of Fairy Tales
A new adventure where Franklin and Luna follow their friend the tortoise into a dusty fairy-tale kingdom. Who will they meet there? Franklin and Luna are back again and this time it’s Franklin’s birthday! Luna and all the villagers are planning a surprise party. While the party is being set up, Luna takes Franklin book shopping, and Luna’s tortoise, Neil, finds a padlocked book of fairy tales and can’t help picking the lock. But when he peers inside, the book swallows him whole! Franklin and Luna dive into the book to rescue Neil and tumble into a cobwebbed forest where they meet dusty fairy-tale characters who have been trapped inside the pages for hundreds of years. In this new Franklin and Luna adventure, the adorable duo meet three pig architects, a wolf with a New Age attitude, and a very bored princess. Desperate to be brought to life, these fairy-tale characters join Franklin and Luna on their hunt for Neil, realizing that the only way to escape the book is to trek all the way through it. Find out if Franklin and Luna find Neil and make it back in time for Franklin’s party in this exciting, new, picture-book adventure. In the third volume of the Franklin and Luna series, well-loved fairy-tale characters are vividly and wittily recreated to great effect. Illustrated in color throughout
32 pages, Hardcover
First published September 17, 2019
4 people are currently reading
320 people want to read
About the author
Jen Campbell
36 books12k followersJen Campbell is a bestselling author and award-winning poet. Her short story collection The Beginning of the World in the Middle of the Night is published by Two Roads, her children's picture books, Franklin's Flying Bookshop, Franklin and Luna go to the Moon, and Franklin and Luna and the Book of Fairy Tales are published by Thames & Hudson. Her poetry collection The Girl Aquarium is published by Bloodaxe.
Jen is also the author of the Sunday Times bestselling Weird Things Customers Say in Bookshops series, and The Bookshop Book. Her poetry pamphlet The Hungry Ghost Festival is published by The Rialto. She's a recipient of an Eric Gregory Award and won the Jane Martin Poetry Prize.
Jen worked as a bookseller for ten years and now has a Youtube channel, where she talks about all things books. She also runs a podcast called BOOKS WITH JEN, is Vlogger in Residence for the Poetry Book Society, offers writing workshops and editorial services, and runs a book club for TOAST.
She grew up in the north east of England and now lives in London. She is represented by Charlie Campbell at Kingsford Campbell.
Jen is also the author of the Sunday Times bestselling Weird Things Customers Say in Bookshops series, and The Bookshop Book. Her poetry pamphlet The Hungry Ghost Festival is published by The Rialto. She's a recipient of an Eric Gregory Award and won the Jane Martin Poetry Prize.
Jen worked as a bookseller for ten years and now has a Youtube channel, where she talks about all things books. She also runs a podcast called BOOKS WITH JEN, is Vlogger in Residence for the Poetry Book Society, offers writing workshops and editorial services, and runs a book club for TOAST.
She grew up in the north east of England and now lives in London. She is represented by Charlie Campbell at Kingsford Campbell.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 34 reviews
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January 27, 2021illustrated children’s books ahhhh!!!!
March 14, 2020
This is so charming. I love this series!
June 19, 2025
Saving because this is my favorite children’s book at the moment. So cute
August 16, 2020
Comprei este livro para dar ao filho de uma amiga. A história é engraçada e as rimas fáceis de seguir. No entanto, existe a referencia a uma série de personagens dos contos de fadas sem que haja grande interação com as mesmas. Uma história para crianças com uma excelente ilustração e que não pretende transmitir qualquer moral ou ideia. É uma simples história de fantasia para crianças.
October 2, 2019
At risk of overanalyzing a generally delightful picture book, this wasn’t quite as good as the first two. The haphazard rhyming grated in a way I didn’t find in the others.
November 12, 2020
Talk about reading for pleasure - this is the perfect book to read with your class to engage them in RfP!! Jen Campbell uses Luna and the animals to show how exciting it is to step into a book and immerse yourself with the characters, which would potentially motivate children to pick up a book and read it!
Highly recommend it - lovely illustrations too!
Highly recommend it - lovely illustrations too!
November 7, 2020
Another story which explore the friendship between Luna and Franklin and the thing which keeps them close, BOOKS!
Together they end up being inside a book of Fairy Tales in search of Luna’s tortoise. Along the way they get to meet a variety of characters from Classic Tales.
In the end, when they return the the ‘real’ world, including some of the fairy tale characters, they celebrate Franklin’s birthday. But not only this, all of Franklin and Luna’s friend, old and new, get to discuss their own stories.
I think this would be beneficial to show children that stories are simply things that we find in books but actually, we all have a story which is worth sharing.
Together they end up being inside a book of Fairy Tales in search of Luna’s tortoise. Along the way they get to meet a variety of characters from Classic Tales.
In the end, when they return the the ‘real’ world, including some of the fairy tale characters, they celebrate Franklin’s birthday. But not only this, all of Franklin and Luna’s friend, old and new, get to discuss their own stories.
I think this would be beneficial to show children that stories are simply things that we find in books but actually, we all have a story which is worth sharing.
May 13, 2023
The art is incredible, but the writing is all over the place. There’s a sense of a great idea buried under unfocused distractions, as if Campbell isn’t quite sure what she’s trying to write about. The biggest tell is the text which sometimes rhymes, sometimes sort of rhymes and then just can’t be arsed to even try slightly to rhyme for the rest of it. It’s deeply frustrating when Harnett’s art is so strong to see such lazy writing for her to work with
October 9, 2019
The Premise
Franklin and Luna enter a book of fairy tales in search of the tortoise Neil.
Son's Review
(Age: 4)
On what I should write in the review:
It is good!
On the best part:
The end because they are all happy together.
On the bookshop:
I would like to go there. I would just look around. I would find books to read. I like the spiders with glasses. That one has glasses *points* and that one and that one! But that one doesn't. I wouldn't open the locked book.
On entering a fairy tale book to rescue someone:
I would go and rescue him. I wouldn't be scared.
On recognizing fairy tale characters:
I know that one, and that one, and that one, but I don't know their names. I know the three little pigs from the three little pigs book! I don't know that one [the princess and the pea]. I would let [the fairy tale characters] come home with me.
(Clearly, I need to up my fairy tale reading with this kid.)
On the series:
I like them all!
Mom's Review
I am a sucker for books that take place within other books. My favorite series is the Thursday Next series by Jasper Fforde, where the main character is able to dive into the Book World and meet different characters. With that in mind, you can probably appreciate how excited I was to read a children's book with T with a similar construct! T enjoyed the story and pointing out characters he knew, but I think I was more thrilled by the premise than he.
Just as we expect from the two titular bibliophiles, more book-love abounds in Franklin and Luna and the Book of Fairy Tales, as well as love for each other. You could read Book of Fairy Tales alone, but it definitely builds on the other Franklin and Luna books. This story begins with Franklin's sadness over no acknowledgment of his 606th birthday, but he lights up when Luna takes him to a bookshop. While they browse, Neil gets into trouble opening a padlocked book. And so the main plotline commences: Luna and Franklin attempt to rescue Neil from the book that literally pulled him in. Spoiler alert: They succeed.
Upon reflection, I do not think that the main plotline holds the real story. The background story is the more valuable (even if I was ecstatic about the whole entering-a-book-within-a-book thing). Luna and Franklin's love for each other, and their easy companionship, is what sticks with me after reading to T. Luna works to organize a surprise party for Franklin with the entire village and his lunar relatives. She distracts him from the party prep by taking him to his favorite type of place. Their comfort with one another is palpable on the first and final pages, and the final lines of Book of Fairy Tales sum it up perfectly:
"Is this our happily ever after?"
asks Luna, drinking tea.
"I don't know," Franklin grins.
"But we have friends and books,
and that's the best that it could be!"
Why we chose this book:
T and I are both Franklin and Luna fans (see Franklin's Flying Bookshop and Franklin and Luna go to the Moon), so we were delighted with the opportunity to review this newest installment. A review copy was provided by Thames and Hudson in exchange for an honest review.
Franklin and Luna enter a book of fairy tales in search of the tortoise Neil.
Son's Review
(Age: 4)
On what I should write in the review:
It is good!
On the best part:
The end because they are all happy together.
On the bookshop:
I would like to go there. I would just look around. I would find books to read. I like the spiders with glasses. That one has glasses *points* and that one and that one! But that one doesn't. I wouldn't open the locked book.
On entering a fairy tale book to rescue someone:
I would go and rescue him. I wouldn't be scared.
On recognizing fairy tale characters:
I know that one, and that one, and that one, but I don't know their names. I know the three little pigs from the three little pigs book! I don't know that one [the princess and the pea]. I would let [the fairy tale characters] come home with me.
(Clearly, I need to up my fairy tale reading with this kid.)
On the series:
I like them all!
Mom's Review
I am a sucker for books that take place within other books. My favorite series is the Thursday Next series by Jasper Fforde, where the main character is able to dive into the Book World and meet different characters. With that in mind, you can probably appreciate how excited I was to read a children's book with T with a similar construct! T enjoyed the story and pointing out characters he knew, but I think I was more thrilled by the premise than he.
Just as we expect from the two titular bibliophiles, more book-love abounds in Franklin and Luna and the Book of Fairy Tales, as well as love for each other. You could read Book of Fairy Tales alone, but it definitely builds on the other Franklin and Luna books. This story begins with Franklin's sadness over no acknowledgment of his 606th birthday, but he lights up when Luna takes him to a bookshop. While they browse, Neil gets into trouble opening a padlocked book. And so the main plotline commences: Luna and Franklin attempt to rescue Neil from the book that literally pulled him in. Spoiler alert: They succeed.
Upon reflection, I do not think that the main plotline holds the real story. The background story is the more valuable (even if I was ecstatic about the whole entering-a-book-within-a-book thing). Luna and Franklin's love for each other, and their easy companionship, is what sticks with me after reading to T. Luna works to organize a surprise party for Franklin with the entire village and his lunar relatives. She distracts him from the party prep by taking him to his favorite type of place. Their comfort with one another is palpable on the first and final pages, and the final lines of Book of Fairy Tales sum it up perfectly:
"Is this our happily ever after?"
asks Luna, drinking tea.
"I don't know," Franklin grins.
"But we have friends and books,
and that's the best that it could be!"
Why we chose this book:
T and I are both Franklin and Luna fans (see Franklin's Flying Bookshop and Franklin and Luna go to the Moon), so we were delighted with the opportunity to review this newest installment. A review copy was provided by Thames and Hudson in exchange for an honest review.
September 5, 2019
When Luna's pet tortoise disappears into an old book Franklin and Luna don't have a choice but to follow. They land in the world of fairy tales where they bump into witches with spindles and pigs building a hotel and a yawning princess. I love that kids can spot their favorite fairy tales as they turn the pages, but also that some characters are not what they seem. As the wolf says "You shouldn't believe all that you read, you know." This book is playful and full of little cute twists that make it such an adventure to read. Without a doubt my favorite Franklin and Luna book to date.
December 31, 2021
Franklin and Luna's third adventure.
I think this one is my favourite because it's full of very funny and/or endearing references to the fairytales of my childhood. The art remains gorgeous, and the text itself is a very soothing rhyming prose.
My 3 yo nephew is not as taken with this one, though, even if he did enjoy the dragons and the bears, and the three little pigs. The target audience for this book may be a bit older, tbh.
However, a very very cute story about overcoming adversity and happy endings.
I think this one is my favourite because it's full of very funny and/or endearing references to the fairytales of my childhood. The art remains gorgeous, and the text itself is a very soothing rhyming prose.
My 3 yo nephew is not as taken with this one, though, even if he did enjoy the dragons and the bears, and the three little pigs. The target audience for this book may be a bit older, tbh.
However, a very very cute story about overcoming adversity and happy endings.
October 7, 2020
This is my favourite of Jen Campbell's "Franklin and Luna" series. It uses intertext really well, incorporating many favourite fairy tale characters in a new and amusing way (Red Riding Hood's Big Bad Wolf, for example, is now a reformed vegetarian). I also loved the fact that real and fictional worlds became blurred towards the end - it endorses creativity, imagination and a love of reading.
September 1, 2019
My nephew and I loved this and I just think this is a warm and fuzzy series that I will love always.
Jen is also the greatest.
Jen is also the greatest.
November 2, 2019
It was sweet, but the 2nd one in the series is still the best.
November 14, 2019
These books have become a favorite series for my kid, they're delightful and I'm happy he likes them. The weird rhyming is getting to me though.
December 28, 2019
This book made me feel warm and cozy. A story where the big bad wolf is a vegetarian and does yoga - love it!
December 31, 2019
I love this so much! Probably my favourite of the Franklin and Luna books.
September 13, 2020
This was a very cute and fun children's book, I really enjoyed the drawings and the story was very cute. My friend's kids (who I was reading this to) liked it a lot!
December 11, 2020
Wonderful!!!! I look forward to rereading dozens of times.
December 15, 2020
Coup de cœur!
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December 18, 2020These books are perfect. I want more. They make my heart all warm and fuzzy.
January 31, 2021
I love this series.
August 4, 2021
Adorable. I recommend it to book lovers! Let your inner child and outside child, enjoy this bubble of joy 💚
November 2, 2021
So cute!! I didn’t like it as much as the first but I still think Franklin and Luna are the epitome of what I wanted as a child.
December 16, 2021
Definitely a children's book.
August 9, 2022
Really cute and super nicely illustrated.
November 30, 2022
Franklin & Luna accidentally drop into a book of fairy tales. The story is a cute introduction to many familiar fairy tales, but the illustrations….ugh.
December 30, 2022
Another beautiful entry in the saga of Franklin and Luna. One that you could truly get lost in if you aren’t careful.
July 22, 2023
This may be my favorite of the trilogy. Glad to finally have the full set.
May 9, 2024
It should be no surprise that the only good thing about this book is the wolf.
A wolf who does yoga and is a vegetarian.
A wolf who does yoga and is a vegetarian.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 34 reviews