American icon BENJAMIN FRANKLIN (1706-1790), born in Massachusetts to a British immigrant father and colonial mother, published the famous Poor Richards' Almanack, helped found the University of Pennsylvania, and was the first Postmaster General of the United States. His likeness adorns, among other things, the United States' hundred-dollar bill. Benjamin Franklin was as wildly intriguing a personality as his legend suggest, and as you've always heard,...

"...wonderfully evocative prose..." ~Andre Dubus III

WHAT BEN FRANKLIN WOULD HAVE TOLD ME explores the story of Lee, a vibrant thirteen-year-old boy who is facing premature death from Progeria (a premature aging disease); his caretaker TomÁs, a survivor of Argentina's Dirty War, who is searching for his missing wife, who was pregnant when they were both "disappeared;" and Lee's single mother, Cass,

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Banjamin Franklin's companion, Amos the mouse, recounts how he was responsible for Franklin's inventions and discoveries.

While working on a science fair project, a Philadelphia school boy discovers both a secret laboratory in his basement and Benjamin Franklin, who comes to life after receiving a jolt of electricity.

Goodwin gives a colorful account of Franklin's British years. Few people realize that Franklin lived more than one-fifth of his life in London, first as a young man and then as a colonial representative during the Seven Years' War. The result is an enthralling study of an American patriot who was a fiercely loyal British citizen for most of his life-- until he became a reluctant revolutionary at the age of sixty-nine.

From his beginnings as a journalist at age sixteen to his retirement from public affairs at eighty-two, there was no break in Benjamin Franklin's activity and accomplishments. A writer, inventor, and statesman, he remains unsurpassed in the range of his natural gifts and the important uses to which he put them.

In this Pulitzer Prize–winning biography, Carl Van Doren incorporates materials from Franklin's letters, manuscripts, journals,

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"Find out more about the real Benjamin Franklin in this fun and exciting illustrated biography!"--P. 4 of cover.

Benjamin Franklin may have never become the great man he was without the help of one Amos Mouse. Amos reveals how man and mouse first met and how this accidental encounter grew into a lifetime friendship.

Presents an introduction to the inventions of Benjamin Franklin, one of the nation's most beloved figures, credited with introducing bifocals, daylight savings time, lightning rods, and the establishment of post offices.