by Barb Rosenstock
Illustrated by S.D. Schindler
Published 2014 by Calkins Creek Books
32 Pages
Review copy provided by the publisher
As a teacher of The American Revolution, I love learning about our founding fathers. I knew Ben Franklin was a talented inventor, of course, but I did not know much about him as a child. This book shows Frankin as an eleven-year-old who loved to swim even though swimming for sport was not popular at the time. Young Ben asked himself lots of questions. One question was "What can't I swim like a fish?" This led him to study how fish swim and to his first invention, "swim fins"!
I think this book would be a valuable model of the scientific process. He took a question, studied his subjects, designed a prototype and modified that design based on his trials. Ben was just a regular, curious kid and I think children will be able to relate to him and find his story to be inspirational.
There is a nice timeline of Franklin's life and an author's note at the end of the book.
Use this book....
*as a model of the scientific process.
*as part of a study of American history.
*as part of a biography unit.
*before a unit on inventions.
Resources
This is one I really want to see. Ben Franklin is amazing isn't he? Good idea to use for science work, Gigi!
ReplyDeleteI'm hoping to read this one and the one about Carl Sagan soon. So many interesting books to read!
ReplyDeleteI hadn't seen this title yet--I'm always looking for interesting picture book bios and this one sounds excellent. Love how it models the scientific process.
ReplyDeleteGreat idea to use this book with Founding Fathers unit!
ReplyDeleteI like the idea of this book being used as part of understanding the scientific process. Looks great.
ReplyDeleteThe book cover was the first thing that caught my eye. Will definitely add this to my growing list of PBBs. :)
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