What's the Big Idea, Ben Franklin? by Jean Fritz (Newbery Honor Award winning author) (Puffin Books, 48 pp, ages 7-9, grades 2-4, 1996, $6.99) Reviewed by Skye Anderson.
Did you know Ben Franklin was one of 10 boys and 5 girls? You do, now, and you will remember it and more fun facts about Ben, mostly before he became famous.
Making History Fun and Funny
What's the Big Idea, Ben Franklin? may just be the most fun you have ever had learning history or anything else. You will learn that, "back in the day," the first-born son in the Franklin family always became a blacksmith while the next was trained in the occupation of his father, that apprenticeships last nine years even if you learn faster than that. Ben was apprenticed to a brother who was a printer and started writing poetry of all things but was told he'd best stick to prose (as in the Constitution). He then ran away to sea and ended up in Philadelphia to start his own printing business. And so it begins.
Franklin was curious. So curious that he invented things, one of which locked his door when he was in bed so he didn't have to get up to do that chore. We all know he played with electricity, had numerous children of his own, helped found the Union, and went abroad to England and then France as ambassador.
But the story of it all may just keep you in stitches. You will want to read the other history books author Jean Fritz has written, too, just as fast as you can - the titles are worth it!*
Can't You Make Them Behave, King George?
Shh, We're Writing the Constitution
And Then What Happened, Paul Revere?
Where do You Think You're Going, Christopher Columbus?
Why Don't You Get a Horse, Sam Adams?
Will You Sign Here, John Hancock?
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