Sheila Keenan - Ben Franklin Thinks Big

What good shall I do today?
Benjamin Franklin always asked.
His answers changed the world!

Ben thought working hard,
learning, and doing good were
the most important things in life.
Thats how he became
a famous writer and inventor
and helped the thirteen colonies
become the United States.

At ten, Ben already had a job.
By day, he made candles
for his fathers shop in Boston.

By night, he burned candles
and stayed up reading.
Ben learned many things from books,
even how to swim!
He was a very curious person
who loved to test out ideas.

Young Ben went to work
for his older brother James.
He learned to be a printer.
Ben stopped eating meat.
He spent the money he saved
on books.

Ben secretly wrote for Jamess
newspaper under a fake name.
Readers loved his clever writing.
But James did not like being fooled.
The Franklin brothers argued.
So Ben struck out on his own.

When Franklin was twenty- two,
he opened his own print shop
in Philadelphia.
Ben used a squeaky wheelbarrow
to make deliveries.
People could tell how hard he worked;
they heard him coming!

Ben married Deborah Read.
He wrote news stories
and worked the heavy printing press.
Deborah ran the busy shop.

Ben Franklin became
the most successful printer
in the colonies.
People from New York to Virginia
read his weekly newspaper,
the Pennsylvania Gazette.

Ben published a bestselling book
called Poor Richards Almanack
and it made him rich.
Ben didnt just print
books and papers.
He also printed money
for Pennsylvania and other colonies!

Ben believed in helping make life
better for everybody.
He looked around to see
what people needed.
Franklin helped form Philadelphias
first firefighting group,
the first general hospital,
and the first lending library
in the country.
As he wrote, Well done is better
than well said.

Ben Franklin really loved
to invent things, too.
Was your fireplace working poorly?
Bens invention the Franklin stove
sent heat into a room
and sent smoke up the chimney.

Were the streetlights dim?
Franklins new square lights glowed.
Ben retired from printing
to study science full- time.
He made a shocking discovery!

Ben Franklin discovered the link
between lightning and electricity.
He flew a kite into a stormy sky.
The kite was zapped by lightning!
An electrical charge
struck the kites metal tip,
traveled down a string,
hit a key and gave Ben a shock.

Ben then invented the lightning rod.
Lightning bolts struck the iron rod
instead of the roof.
That stopped buildings from burning.

Franklins discoveries made him
famous around the world.
He was also a member
of the government in Pennsylvania.
Ben was sent to London to ask
for more rights for the colonies.
He was not successful.
Still, he stayed there for many years.

Then the Revolutionary War started.
The American colonists
were fighting the British.
Franklin sailed home.
He studied the ocean along the way.

Once home, Franklin helped write
the Declaration of Independence.
Then Franklin sailed to France
to ask for money and soldiers
for the war against the British.

Ben got the French
to help America win the war.
He worked out a peace treaty
with England.
Ben was gone for nine years.
He met royalty and scientists
and invented bifocal eyeglasses!