An entertaining story about young Ben Franklin. The author does a good job introducing his life, describing his family, his role, and his early experiments. Ben Franklin got out into the world and worked to understand the thins around him first. Through exploring his early invention of swim paddles the author examines his scientific trial and error, but also his unwillingness to modify his interests or behavior based on other people. It takes a great deal of perseverance and confidence to be an inventor and Franklin displayed the fortitute to keep working on this early invention.

The text explored verbs and action words with distinct color and fonts and brought Franklin's exploits to life with splashing fish, river otters, and astonished colonial sailors. A wonderful early biography in that it makes a great figure in history a little easier to get to know. What are the qualities that allowed them to succeed? Was it always easy? Did people struggle with some of their novel ideas or actions? Usually the answer is yes, but it's so enjoyable to explore them in this context. ( )

I really enjoy reading books about Ben Franklin. He is one of my favorite inventors! I love how this book chronicles his first invention--the swim fins! Ben Franklin loved to swim even at a young age. He has a famous quote which says, "Learn fairly to swim; as I wish all men were taught to do in their youth." I love how this book talks about what an odd kid that he was to the community. Through the text and the drawings you can imagine Ben swimming along thinking about if he could swim like a fish. I love how his imagination leads him to invent. His first attempt didn't go too well so he decided to invent swim sandals! He really had some wild and crazy ideas. These amazing ideas ended up changing our world. For example, he invented electricity rods for houses to protect them from lightning, he invented the volunteer fire department, as well as the first lending library. He had great ideas and then he made them happen! I hope this story will inspire kids to dream big, imagine, and invent. This could be a very inspirational book for a child that thinks outside of the box. Invent!

"As we enjoy great advantages from the inventions of others, we should be glad of an opportunity to serve others by any invention of ours." Ben Franklin

This is one of the first books we ever read together in your class! It is so cool to see the young life of Benjamin Franklin. ( )

This fun story of Benjamin Franklin is a fun adventure kids will be able to connect to. This historical story of Ben Franklin as a young boy will intrigue kids with its funny language and playful illustrations. ( )

Ben Franklin's first invention is inspired by fish. ( )