Mary Beth Crum

Summary
The story goes through the life of Benjamin Franklin. It talks about him at different stages of his life, his family, his education, jobs and most importantly his inventions.

Personal reaction
I found the story to be really well written for a younger crowd. It gets the basic idea of why Ben Franklin is so important to our history without drowning kids in dull language or too much information for their typically short attention spans.

Class Extensions
Bring an almanac to class,which was show more one of Ben Franklin's inventions, and show students what it is and how it works.

Ask children to create and draw their own invention, it's looks and function and share with the class. show less

Summary:
Benjamin Franklin loved to experiment and invent even as a young child. He was born on January 17, 1706 and was the youngest of fifteen brothers and sisters. Because of Ben Franklin's many inventions he helped many people and impacted their lives. As a child Ben taught himself to read. He was very smart and loved to explore. When he became an adult he moved to Pennsylvania and married a woman named Deborah. Together he and Deborah opened up their own printing shop. Ben Franklin show more accomplished many great achievements during his lifetime. Some of these achievements include, writing the almanac, opening up a hospital, and inventing the lightning rod. One of Ben Franklin's greatest achievements was helping in writing the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution. He died 84 years of age in 1790.

Personal Reaction:
The simple book about Ben Franklin provided so many facts and information in such a short book. It is a great read for children first experiencing biographies. Even I learned things about Ben Franklin that I had never heard of before.

Classroom Extension Ideas:
Ben Franklin's biography would be great to use for a fifth grade class learning about biographies. It would be fun to have this book along with many other biographies available for children to read and learn about a particular person past or present, and then have the children dress up as the person and present what they learned about them. show less

Summary: This book was about Benjamin Franklin all of his inventions and adventures he had throughout his life. He wrote a book, invented swimming paddles to go on your feet, glass, a Hospital in 1751, and he helped write the declaration of independence.

Personal Reaction: I really liked this book. I never knew Benjamin Franklin accomlished so much. Good informational book and one that should be in your personal collection.

Classroom Extention Ideas:
1) Have the class do more research on show more Benjamin Franklin

2) Have the class write an article just like Benjamin Franklin did.

3) Ask the class to invent something of their own. show less