This book is an exciting and educational book typical of the franklin series. Franklin's secret club teaches children the value of including everyone and the benefit of having everyones different ideas. Colourful large pictures and interesting events make the lesson an easy one to learn.

I recently had my 3 and 5 year old grandchildren move back into my house and had a terrible time getting them to go to bed. The first night I read this to them a two hour ordeal became ten minutes. The three year old slept with the book in her arms and carried it out her bed in the morning. I'd give it more than 5 stars if I could.

My kids have the 2001 edition of this Calendar and it has been greatly enjoyed all year long. The colorful pictures are beautiful and the bonus stickers are fun. If your kids love Franklin like mine do you won't be disappointed with this one.

Franklin does such fun things. Having valentine cards to send to children is a great idea. Everyone loves Franklin, and will enjoy receiving these fun cards.

this book is very informative on the lost state. read it!

Some casual viewers of this site might wonder what the history of a small Southern town can offer readers across the nation. The answer lies in Franklin itself: for much of its history, it represented the ethos of much of the American nation, yet with noticeable differences that make its uniqueness compelling. Originally considered "the west," a wild and exotic frontier of Indians and game and forest and wild fields, Franklin became an outpost of civilization for the people at the end of the 18th Century who wished to move on to cheaper land and new business opportunities. From its earliest days, Franklinites were slaveholders, and this is another important thread in the complex story of the town, county and region. The town was the focus of the Battle of Franklin on November 30, 1864, one of the Civil War's bloodiest and ultimately most futile battles. While the city maintained the Jim Crow segregation policies as did the rest of the South after the War, this book is one of the first to point out the important African-American leaders, like Rev. A.N.C. Williams, who owned a business on Main Street. The section of the book on the city's second century, written by Robert Holladay, is perhaps the most illuminating, addressing as it does for the first time Franklin's vital Black community and the civil rights movement in the town. Unlike the violence that stained many Southern cities and small towns, Franklin schools were easily and peacefully integrated. When an African-American asked the superintendent of schools about integrating the schools, he replied indignantly that he couldn't or he'd be lynched [by whites] on the Square. The citizen mildly replied that if he didn't he'd be lynched [by Blacks] anyway, so he might as well implement the law. The superintendent did so! The role of the interfaith, interracial Church Women in achieving racial equity is also an interesting and important note. Franklin is currently caught in the vise (and vice) of overdevelopment and urban sprawl, spawned by the arrival of I-65 in the 1960s and abetted by almost a century of pro-development ideology of local goverment. The book somewhat soft-pedals this last issue (a former mayor had his hands deep in development deals himself) and ends on a positive note. Perhaps most poignant of all, however, is the photograph by Holliday showing a shady old pioneer cemetery, bordered by the traditional Middle Tennessee mortarless stone wall, adjacent to and visually overwelmed by the new commercial development in the Cool Springs Mall area. Rural Williamson County is gone, replaced by the McAmerica of any suburb from Bangor to San Diego.

This is a wonderful book about changing patterns in U.S. family life. It includes thought provoking theological reflections, ethicial analysis, and practical suggestions.

Franklin's life reads like an action-adventure story! Using previously undiscovered letters and meticulous research of the period, Mark Snell has brought to light a man whose life parallels the development of the United States through the 19th century. As an infant, William B. Franklin had been kissed by Lafayette and given, as were the fledgling United States, the blessing of that great proponent of American independence. Graduating first in his class at West Point, Franklin pursued an Army career in the Corps of Topographical Engineers, deeply involved in building the infrastructure which would support and define America's burgeoning industrial economy . . . mapping western territories and surveying Great Lake shorelines, building innovative coastal lighthouses, and serving as project manager for the DC capitol dome. At the outbreak of the Civil War, Franklin advised the Lincoln administration on how to expand the Regular Army, just the beggining of his interaction with many of the "big dogs" in that political and military struggle. He rose in rank and was a principal player in some of the war's most renown campaigns: First Bull Run, the Peninsula Campaign, Second Bull Run, Fredericksburg, the Red River Campaign. He was even captured by Confederates and made a daring escape!

Of most interest to Civil War aficionados, Snell disputes Franklin's alleged "failure" at Fredericksburg and presents a solid argument for his true failure during the Maryland Campaign. Had Franklin been more aggressive following his success at Crampton's Gap on September 14, 1862, McClellan might have trounced Lee thoroughly at Sharpsburg, surely shortening the war. New information on Franklin's participation in the Red River Campaign is also fascinating. Following the war, Franklin ventured into a life of public service and business -- such as overseeing The National Home for Disabled Veterans and managing the Colt Patent Firearms Manufacturing Company -- and finally bowed out gracefully with the beginning of the new century.

This is a fair and objective biography of a truly selfless patriot, whose life teaches us about the century during which America defined itself as a nation, a man whose vigor, enthusiasm, and accomplishment matched that of the dynamic era during which he lived.

Exhilirating! Take a back seat and let the Gabby Cabby guide you through his travels of the streets of New York. Famous for his radio show broadcasts and eloquent tales, feel the flavor of the Big Apple by stepping into the time of your life. Hail Gabby!

As a beginning student in graphic art, I heard Leonard Baskin speak at the opening of a printing exhibition at Washington University in St. Louis. That experience made The Gehenna Press and Baskin's work alive for me in a way that simple research could not.

This book contains a bibliography of Gehenna's work which is annotated by Baskin, and that in and of itself makes it beautiful and invaluable. It took Amazon two years to locate the book for me, but it was well worth the wait. If you can find a copy, buy it and cherish it!