Benjamin Franklin (10 Days Series)

• A cunning escape from a cruel brother.
• A shrewd plan to save the colonies.
• A treacherous spy game in Paris.
• A shocking battle with a vengeful aristocrat.
• And a last-minute triumph that bound American together.

These days and five others shook Franklin's world - and yours.

You're about to be an eyewitness to the top ten days in Ben Franklin's life, including:

• A cunning escape from a cruel brother.
• A shrewd plan to save the colonies.
• A treacherous spy game in Paris.
• A shocking battle with a vengeful aristocrat.
• And a last-minute triumph that bound American together.

These days and five others shook Franklin's world - and yours.

Children's Literature

Every young elementary student can tell you that, as a young man, Benjamin Franklin stood out in a field during a storm, holding a kite. How many of those same students can tell you how Benjamin Franklin started out in life, what he had to do with farmers and their planting schedules, and what he had to do with the writing of the U. S. Constitution? This Benjamin Franklin was much more than a "printer," as is stated on his gravestone. As a young man, he was apprenticed to his brother James in order to learn a trade. James taught Ben all he knew about being a printer, but as brothers often will, they disagreed on almost everything else. These disagreements eventually forced them apart and sent Ben off on his own. Through the next years, Ben learned more about his trade in London, wrote and printed his own Farmer's Almanac, was betrayed by his friends, and became active in the politics of the day. Despite the fact that Ben was once accused of treason by the original colonies, he was at the age of eighty-one a respected member of the Assembly that composed and signed the Constitution of the United States. In this short biography, students will read about the Stamp Act, the Boston Tea Party, the Intolerable Acts, state assemblies and statesman Thomas Paine. Author Colbert has done an admirable job of creating biographies that will entice upper elementary students to learn about their history. Upper elementary classrooms and middle school classrooms with reluctant readers will do well to add the titles of the "10 Days" series to their collections. Reviewer: Joyce Rice

David Colbert's most recent book is the New York Times bestseller Michelle Obama: An American Story. In addition to the 10 Days series, he authored the acclaimed Eyewitness series of first-person history and the Magical Worlds series for children. More than two million copies of his books are in print in almost thirty languages.