Victoria Sherrow

I like that this book is a good introductory text for students to ease out of only reading fiction to. I like the illustrations, and find them to be helpful for understanding the time period. I would use this book in lower level classrooms like K-3/.

Very in depth, with lots of photographs. I used this as a supplement to Plateau Indians by Mir Tamim Ansary, particularly the feature sections on Trickster Coyote, The Young Man and the Elk Spirit, Sacajawea & Chief Joseph.

The author, Victoria Sherrow, has written a wonderful biography about Benjamin Franklin. She has covered his whole life with simple text in order for students in the second through fourth grades to better comprehend all the facts. Even the early primary grades, if read to, would walk away from this story with a knowledgeable sense of who Benjamin Franklin is.
Benjamin Franklin was the fifteenth out of seventeen children. He was born on January 17, 1706. He lived with his family in Boston, show more the biggest city at that time. She takes you back in time to when he was a little boy who loved to listen to adult conversations. He did not go to school until the age of seven. His father believed Ben would make a good preacher. So Ben was sent to a very good school where he was one of the best students. However, the next year his father decided he could no longer afford this school and Ben was sent to another school where he struggled with math. Ben was later taken out of this school to work in his father’s shop making candles and soaps. He was not very happy working there. He wanted to travel, but his father told him no. Benjamin taught himself through books he would read at night by the candles that did not sell in his father’s shop.
Besides reading, Ben enjoyed being outside. He liked swimming, fishing, and boating. He built a boat with his friend by using old scraps from other boats. The author pulls interesting side notes about Ben’s life that add flavor throughout the story.
In 1718 at the age of twelve, Ben decided to work as an apprentice under his brother James who ran a newspaper. Ben would set up the type, run the press and sell the papers. He so much wanted to write for the paper, but thought his brother wouldn’t let him. He slipped his written letters under James’s office door under the name of Mrs. Silence Dogood. The letters were about life in Boston and made fun of the British government. When Ben’s brother found out he was the one writing the letters, Ben left and ran away to New York City at the age of seventeen. Ben could not find work in New York so he moved to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He was able to find a job in a printing shop and earned enough money to pay rent. By the age of twenty-three, he opened his own printing press and published a paper called the Pennsylvania Gazette. He then met Debroah Read and married her in 1730. They had two children, William and Franky. Ben still had a passion for reading and came up with the idea of the first library, where people could become a member by paying a fee then they would be able to borrow the books for free.
The author talks about many of Benjamin Franklin’s accomplishments not just the main ones. She goes on to talk about an almanac he wrote in 1732. This book contains recipes, poems, jokes, predictions, and advice. His almanac encouraged many people to live a good life. He also kept a journal in which he wrote about his successes and about his failures. He was always thinking about how he could make this world a “better place”. One of the examples stated in the book; “Franklin paid to have one street paved.” Then the people of Philadelphia decided to pay a tax to have the other roads paved. Ben also helped to create a volunteer firefighting team, a police force, he helped to build schools and hospitals. He then became a part of the government and was able to partake in law making. Benjamin Franklin doesn’t stop there. At the age of thirty-one, in 1737, he became postmaster and was in charge of the city’s mail. He created a new school which later became the first university, University of Pennsylvania. The next phase of his life was an inventing time. He invented a stove, oil burning candles and a musical instrument called the glass armonica. One of his most famous attributes was his experiments with lighting. He believed that lighting had an electric spark. He built a kite an attached a key to the bottom of the kite’s string. “When lightning flashed near the kite, Franklin touched the key. He felt a shock and saw a spark.” This was the start of electricity.
The Author then explains Benjamin’s involvement with the American Government. Ben needed to ask the British leaders for more freedom. With much work Ben was able to gain more rights for Americans. At age sixty-nine he joined the Second Continental Congress and there was no stopping him. He helped the colonies print money, and he also found wepons for the soldiers. He was able to gain the support of the French during the Revolutionary war.
His last and most well known accomplishment was when Ben helped Thomas Jefferson write the Declaration of Independence. Benjamin was the oldest one to sign it at the age of eighty-one.
The author, Victoria Sherrow, has placed a timeline of Benjamin Franklin’s life in the back of the book. This is a great way for a student to review the many things Ben has done. Having all the facts down in one area can help students organize their thoughts about the story without leaving something out. She also includes tidbits and quotes throughout the story. This is a great way to see into his life. show less

This is a cute book that has a skink foraging for food and just how he lives in the outside in the neighborhood. kids will get a kick out of this one.