The amazing Mr. Franklin, or, The boy who read everything

Format:

Book

Title:

The amazing Mr. Franklin, or, The boy who read everything

Other title(s):

Amazing Mr. Franklin

Boy who read everything

Author:

Ashby, Ruth.

ISBN:

9781561453061

Edition:

1st ed.

Publication Information:

Physical Description:

104 unnumbered pages : illustrations ; 20 cm

Contents:

Boston boy -- Runaway -- Ready, set, print -- A bold scheme -- Down--but not out -- Most likely to succeed -- A not-so-secret club -- Books, books, and more books -- Healthy, wealthy, and wise -- The sparks fly -- Taming the lightning -- A time of change -- The first American -- The amazing Mr. Franklin.

Summary:

Introduces the life of inventor, statesman, and founding father Benjamin Franklin, whose love of books led him to establish the first public library in the American colonies.

Program Information:

Accelerated Reader AR MG 5.8 3.0 77180.

Personal Subject:

Franklin, Benjamin, 1706-1790-Juvenile literature.

Franklin, Benjamin, 1706-1790.

Franklin, Benjamin, 1706-1790 (OCoLC)fst00034115

Subject(s):

Statesmen -- United States -- Biography -- Juvenile literature.

Scientists -- United States -- Biography -- Juvenile literature.

Inventors -- United States -- Biography -- Juvenile literature.

Printers -- United States -- Biography -- Juvenile literature.

Geographic Term:

Genre:

collective biographies.

Literature.

Biographies.

Juvenile works.

Holds:

Available:*

Library	Call Number	Status
Searching... Dallas Public Library	+ 921 FRANKLIN, BEN	Searching... Unknown
Searching... Newberg Public Library	921 FRANKLIN, BENJAMIN	Searching... Unknown

Bound With These Titles

On Order

Summary

Everyone knows Benjamin Franklin was an important statesman, inventor, and a signer of the Declaration of Independence. But did you know he started the first public library in America?
Ben Franklin was always a ?bookish? boy. The first book he read was the Bible at age five, and then he read every printed word in his father's small home library. Ben wanted to read more, but books were expensive. He wanted to go to school and learn, but his family needed him to work. Despite this, Ben Franklin had lots of ideas about how to turn his love of reading and learning into something more. First he worked as a printer's apprentice, then he set up his own printing business. Later, he became the first bookseller in Philadelphia, started a newspaper, published Poor Richard's Almanac, and in 1731, with the help of his friends, organized the first subscription lending library, the Library Company.
Ruth Ashby's fast-paced biography takes young readers through Franklin's life from his spirited, rebellious youth through his successful career as an inventor and politician and finally to the last years of his life, surrounded by his personal collection of books.

Author Notes

RUTH ASHBY is the award-winning author of dozens of nonfiction and fiction books for juvenile readers, including The Amazing Mr. Franklin or The Boy Who Read Everything, Rocket Man: The Mercury Adventures of John Glenn, The Victorian Age, Around the World in 1800, and T-Rex: Back to the Crustaceous, as well as Jane Goodall's Animal World: The Tiger and Jane Goodall's Animal World: The Otter, both Parents' Choice Award winners. She lives in Huntington, N.Y.

MICHAEL MONTGOMERY has illustrated several children's books, including Night Rabbits and The Amazing Mr. Franklin Or the Boy Who Read Everything. With his father Wayne Montgomery, he wrote and illustrated Over the Candlestick: Classic Nursery Rhymes and the Real Stories Behind Them. He attended Georgia Southern University and the University of Georgia. Montgomery lives in Dacula, Georgia, with his wife and their two children.

Reviews (4)

School Library Journal Review

Gr 3-5-In 1723, when Benjamin Franklin was 17, he left his home in Boston and eventually settled in Philadelphia, a town that was a mere 50 years old when he arrived. Although there are many well-written books about the man, Ashby's clearly written narrative, peppered with exclamation points, flows smoothly and will hold the interest of children. Themes that run throughout are Franklin's love of books and literature, his intellectual curiosity, and his statesmanship. The author incorporates quotes, stories, rhymes, and pithy sayings that exemplify Franklin's work and publications as well as historical background on the period. Seven pages of facts, illustrated with black-and-white and color reproductions, conclude the text. This small-format book will appeal to children who have read brief accounts of Franklin's life and would like to know more about him.-Rebecca Sheridan, Easttown Library & Information Center, Berwyn, PA (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Publisher's Weekly Review

A pair of biographies explore the lives of famous Americans. The Amazing Mr. Franklin: Or the Boy Who Read Everything by Ruth Ashby, illus. by Michael Montgomery, begins with Benjamin Franklin's transplant to Philadelphia at age 17. The narrative is meandering, and at times abrupt, but it covers his successes in the printing industry, the writing of his Poor Richard's Almanack and his invention of the lightning rod, among other astounding achievements. Historical notes and a list of further reading on the subject round out the volume. (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved

Horn Book Review

Ashby's biography begins in Franklin's seventeenth year, when he ran away from Boston to Philadelphia. There, hard work and a love of books led to his own print shop, a subscription library, and a leadership role as the Colonies moved toward independence. The narrative is clear, if occasionally overexcited; an afterword summarizes Franklin+s inventions and family information. Reading list. Bib. (c) Copyright 2010. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted. All rights reserved.

Booklist Review

Gr. 3-5. Though most books on Benjamin Franklin emphasize his later years, this well-designed, small-format biography gives equal weight to his youthful experiences and accomplishments. One of the most remarkable figures in American history, Franklin emerges here as an innovative thinker who contributed greatly to the intellectual and political life of his times. Ashby's lively narrative account clearly shows how he earned international respect not only as a scientist, writer, statesman, and wit but also as the inventor of the Franklin stove, bifocals, and the lightning rod. The book includes neither source notes for quotations nor an index, though it has a time line, bibliographies, and a lengthy appended section on Franklin in his roles as patriot, scientist, book lover, autobiographer, and family man. Unlike most of the recent biographies for middle-graders, this has no illustrations within the main body of the text, though a few appear in the front and back matter. Still, this is an attractive, readable account. --Carolyn Phelan Copyright 2004 Booklist