Benjamin Franklin: Young Printer (Childhood of Famous Americans)

Books by Augusta Stevenson can always be counted on to deliver a good story and to respect a child's intelligence - and to teach. The book opens: "A long time ago, away up in New England in the little city of Boston there was a certain blue ball. It was about the size of a cocoanut, and it hung above the front door of a certain little house. On this blue ball was a name - Josiah Franklin. That was all, but it was enough. Everyone in Boston knew that the blue ball was the sign Josiah Franklin used for his candle-and-soap shop in Union Street. They knew that he lived in this little house, too, as most tradesmen did in those days. They knew that the shop was in the front room facing the street, and that the Franklin family lived in the big room just back of it." The Childhood of Family Americans series, almost 100 years old now, chronicles the early years of famous American men and women in an accessible manner. Each book is faithful in spirit to the values and experiences that influenced the person's development. These books reaffirm the importance of our American heritage.

I am a home teacher, and my student is very interested in Benjamin Franklin, so this book is perfect for his reading level. He is autistic, and a slow learner, and reads on a 3 -5th grade level, though he is 31 years old. He needs and often enjoys low-vocabulary, high-interest chapter books, and Ben Franklin, by Aladdin Paperbacks is excellent for him. My student is Chinese, and English is a second language to him, and this series of reading materials functions well as a vehicle for learning English, and encourages his interest in history and famous people. I plan or ordering additional books from this series.

My son read this for a homeschool project and really enjoyed it!!

Enjoyed her books when I was a kid and still enjoy them now. Love how they are written as a fictional story but give real facts. Makes it very interesting to learn about the individual.

My 7 yr old used this book for school and he loved reading about Ben Franklin. He always wanted to know what was going to happen in the next chapter so we would often read more than one chapter at a time!

Good information for a children's story writer. Good to know that Franklin was not always a good model, but this book doesn't emphasize that, it wouldn't be good for children if it did.

We homeschool and getting my son interested in reading is a challenge and having him read for history was harder. But he loved this book and still remembers things from it. To me that's a win win.

My daughter was required to read this for her literature work. She really enjoyed it, and finished it early.

The way Native people about in the book reflects the thoughts and feelings of the time it was written. You may want to discuss how this has changed over time. I did not find any of it so offensive that I would not want my child to read it, but it is an opportunity to talk about how things and view point's can change over time. It is just like how Little House in the Prairie series also offers this opportunity to discuss how things were then and now among European Americans and Native people. Otherwise, the book is written well with keeping young people interested and informed.

Perfect product! Just as described!