Module 7: Now & Ben: The Modern Inventions of Benjamin Franklin

Summary: This book introduces the reader to Benjamin Franklin and his many inventions.  Benjamin Franklin's many inventions have made life today easier and better in many ways.

APA Reference: Barretta, G. (2006). Now & Ben: The modern inventions of Benjamin Franklin. New York, NY: Henry Holt and Company, LLC.

Impressions: I never knew that Benjamin Franklin was responsible for so many interesting inventions.  The author introduces Benjamin Franklin and some of his many inventions in a then and now comparison type of format.  The illustrations help the reader to understand the invention that the book is talking about.  The author also gives the reasons for some of Benjamin Franklin inventions.  Like it describes that he got tired of switching between 2 different pairs of glasses so he invented bifocals.  This book really helps the reader understand that Benjamin Franklin was a very talented inventor that is responsible for a lot of things that we still use today.

Professional Review:

NOW AND BEN

The Modern Inventions of Benjamin Franklin

by Gene Barretta, illustrated by Gene Barretta

Age Range: 5 - 9

Sunny cartoons juxtapose now and then in a lighthearted exploration of how Benjamin Franklin’s inventions have survived into the modern age. Although “invention” is a little broadly construed—are political cartoons and Daylight Savings Time, strictly speaking, inventions?—it’s a pretty impressive collection of achievements: The Franklin stove and lightning rods, of course, share space with bifocals, odometers and swim fins. The illustrations are genial enough, and use a lightly humorous touch to make their points (Ben offers an obviously distressed sailor a lime to stave off scurvy). A clean organization that opposes “Now” on the left (dominated by modern blues and greens) and “Ben” on the right (dominated by yellows, Ben’s blue coat standing out) aids in the presentation of the information. It’s an enthusiastic enough effort, but, in an anniversary year bound to be chock-full of Ben Franklin books, such flaws as the absence of suggestions for further reading make it no more than a marginal purchase. Rosalyn Schanzer’s How Ben Franklin Stole the Lightning (2003) covers much of the same territory but does it much better. (Picture book/nonfiction. 5-9)

Now and Ben: The modern inventions of Benjamin Franklin. (2010, May 20). Retrieved from https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/gene-barretta/now-and-ben/

Library Uses: This book could be used with English teachers to teach compare and contrast.