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Now & Ben The Modern Inventions of Benjamin Franklin

Summary


What would you do if you lived in a community without a library, hospital, post office, or fire department? If you were Benjamin Franklin, you’d set up these organizations yourself. Franklin also designed the lightning rod, suggested the idea of daylight savings time, and invented bifocals – all inspired by his common sense and intelligence. In this informative book, Gene Barretta brings Benjamin Franklin’s genius to life, deepening our appreciation for one of the most influential figures in American history.



News


I must be a Geek

September 26th, 2017

Mazza Museum! Here I come!

July 26th, 2015

We Are Teachers

August 26th, 2014

Now & Ben nominated for 2014 ORA Award!

September 22nd, 2013

Now & Ben included in School Library Journal’s “20 Outstanding Non-Fiction Books/Core Essentials.”

May 31st, 2013

“Now & Ben” signed on for Scholastic Book Club.

April 27th, 2012

Common Core – Now & Ben

September 3rd, 2011

Now & Ben is now an eBook!

April 8th, 2011

“Now & Ben” released as a National Geographic ESL book.

September 9th, 2010

“Now & Ben” included as a Braille and Audio book by Washington Talking Book & Braille Library.

December 2nd, 2009

“Now & Ben” nominated for 2009-2010 Tennessee Volunteer Book Award.

August 13th, 2009

“Now & Ben” selected as April Book of the Month by the Rutgers University Project on Economics and Children.

April 4th, 2009

“Now & Ben” released in a paperback edition.

December 23rd, 2008

“Now & Ben” nominated for 2008-2009 Black-Eyed Susan Award by the Maryland Assoc. of School Librarians.

July 14th, 2008

“Now & Ben” selected for the 2009-2010 Volunteer State Book Award reading List by the Tennessee Library Association.

May 12th, 2008

“Now & Ben” nominated for 2008-2009 Triple Crown Award by the Children’s Crown Award Reading Programs.

April 25th, 2008

“Now & Ben” nominated for 2008-2009 Arkansas Diamond Primary Book Award

April 25th, 2008

“Now & Ben” nominated for 2007-2008 North Carolina Children’s Book Award.

April 17th, 2008

“Now & Ben” nominated for a Beehive Award by the Children’s Literature Association of Utah 2007-2008.

April 17th, 2008

“Now & Ben” nominated for a Jefferson Cup Award by Virginia Library Assoc.

April 15th, 2008

“Now & Ben” nominated for 2007-2008 Armadillo Readers Choice Award.

April 15th, 2008

“Now & Ben” becomes available in Braille.

March 30th, 2008

“Now & Ben” has been nominated for the 2008-2009 Horned Toad Tales Award. Over 40 Texas Elementary Schools will vote after Feb 2009.

March 15th, 2008

“Now and Ben” included in the “Ben Again!” exhibit at historic Morven House in Princeton, NJ. Dec 2007 through March 2008.

February 15th, 2008

The DVD for “Now & Ben” named by the ALSC (American Library Assoc.) as one of the “2008 Notable Children’s Videos.”

January 12th, 2008

“Now & Ben” wins 2007 Carolyn W. Field Award – established by the Pennsylvania Library Assoc. “Best Book For Young People by a PA author or illustrator.”

July 12th, 2007

“Now & Ben” included in CCBC Choices 2007 (Cooperative Children’s Book Center of the School of Education at Univ. of Madison, Wisconsin.

May 30th, 2007

“Now & Ben” included on the 2007 Best Children’s Books of the Year list by the Children’s Book Committee at the Bank Street College of Education.

May 19th, 2007

“Now & Ben” included on the 2007 Kansas State Reading Circle Recommended List

May 7th, 2007

“Now & Ben” made into a Special Appearance DVD by Spoken Arts! Released in Spring 2007.

January 25th, 2007

“Now & Ben” has been nominated in the Non-Fiction Book category of the “2008 Grand Canyon Reader Awards.” 45,000 Arizona students will vote for the winners by April 1st 2008.

January 25th, 2007

“Now & Ben” named among “Notable Social Studies Trade Books for Young Readers 2007.” This bibliography is a cooperative project of The National Council for Social Studies (NCSS) and the Children’s Book Council.

January 17th, 2007

“Now & Ben” featured on Martha Stewart Sirius radio program “Kidstuff” in “Patriotic Books For Kids” segment.

November 7th, 2006

“Now & Ben” chosen to be a tie-in to A&E series, “The Revolution” as the “Book Sense Top Ten History Picks About The American Revolution.”

July 7th, 2006

“Now & Ben” chosen for “Children’s Book-of-the-Month Club” for June 2006

January 30th, 2006



Book Reviews


School Library Journal

October 15th, 2007

Benjamin Franklin was a statesman, author, wit, inventor, printer, writer, and more – a true Renaissance man. His keen observations and clever innovations still impact us today. In this “Special Appearance Video,” viewers briefly meet the book’s author/illustrator, Gene Barretta, and learn about his interest in Franklin. The narrator then takes viewers on a voyage of discovery, pointing out modern conveniences that may have largely resulted from Franklin’s work. The extensive list includes not only inventions such as odometers and eyeglasses, but also public services like post offices and libraries, and ideas such as daylight saving time, the use of the gulf stream for more efficient shipping, and the importance of vitamin C in the diet. The narration is brisk and interesting. Barretta’s bright and detailed watercolor cartoon illustrations are scanned iconographically and simply animated. Some additional art has been created for this production. There are many compare and contrast opportunities here, and viewers are encouraged to consider how Franklin’s ideas might be modified for future use. This well-done production is a good introduction to an important figure in American history.




New York Times Book Review

October 3rd, 2007

The extraordinary sense of Franklin as a severely temporally displaced person gives Gene Barretta’s “Now & Ben: The Modern Inventions of Benjamin Franklin” it’s power to surprise and delight. It does not bother with its subject’s life and times. It has enough to do simply presenting – with charming illustrations – the innovations, oddities and civilizational necessities that kept fizzing and popping from Franklin’s restless brain. Many exist today, like public libraries, swim fins, odometers and daylight saving time. Some are museum pieces, like the armonica (a musical instrument that produces sweet, haunting tones when wet fingers are placed on its spinning glass bowls). There are more than enough to dazzle any young reader, and to leave her wanting to know more about this curious, compelling 300-year-old-man.




The Horn Book

May 28th, 2006

“The jacket portrait of a serene, grandfatherly Ben Franklin belies his energy and myriad contributions, such as inventing the lightning rod, charting the Gulf Stream, and helping to shape the Declaration of Independence. Inside, however, the book covers twenty-two of his inventions, first by showing their use in today’s world ( a pedestrian looks down through his bifocals to read a wanted poster and then looks up to identify the criminal across the street) and second by explaining Franklin’s role in their development (he designed bifocals to avoid switching between two pairs of glasses). By organizing the contents in a compare/contrast pattern between “Now” and “Ben,” Barretta leads readers from what they do know to what they probably don’t. “Now we understand the benefits of vitamin C. Ben was an early promoter of eating citrus fruits to help prevent a disease called scurvy.” “Now” appears on the left page, “Ben” appears on the right, visually reversing a traditional timeline but conceptually reinforcing the here and now before introducing the long ago. Read this one aloud; the busy cartoon illustrations might distract beginning readers, but they offer plenty for listeners to contemplate.

B.C.




Publishers Weekly

March 25th, 2006

“Now and then, we think about Ben,” begins Barretta’s (On Top of Spaghetti) lighthearted and enlightening picture-book biography. “It was as if Ben could see into the future. Almost everything he created is still around today.” The book’s format echoes its title: the left-hand side of each spread highlights images and explanations of contemporary versions of Franklin’s inventions (“Now”), while the facing page reveals the fellow at work on his innovations (“Ben”). Among the wide-ranging inventions, discoveries and designs included are bifocals, electricity, swimming fins, the benefits of Vitamin C, the Pennsylvania Fireplace (later renamed the Franklin stove) and the odometer (“Ben invented the odometer when he was postmaster general so he could measure his postal routes”). Barretta also mentions Franklin’s pivotal role in establishing the country’s first library, hospital, post office, and fire and sanitation departments, and in creating the Constitution and other key documents. The juxtaposition of present and past effectively reinforces the continued relevance of Franklin’s inventions and underscores the extraordinary range and depth of his ingenuity and practicality. With its breezy format and succinct text, the book delivers facts in a assuredly kid-friendly style. The playful watercolor cartoons, often divided into panels, help to vary the pacing. A concluding futuristic spread envisions even further updated variations on Franklin’s inventions.




The Bulletin: Of the Center For Children’s Books

March 14th, 2006

“As librarians filter the inevitable stream of new children’s books commemorating the tricentennial of Franklin’s birth, they might keep in mind readers too young to know or care much about the Founder’s role as diplomat, statesman, disillusioned father, and sometimes randy raconteur. Here’s the title just for them, focusing on the scientist and master tinkerer, whose innovations have immediate meaning for children today. Most spreads highlight a single invention – bifocal lenses, political cartoons in the newspapers, lightning rods, long-armed “grabbers,” swim fins, vitamin C dosing, odometers, second hands on clocks – and in a few sentences compare contemporary experience with that of Franklin’s time. Pictures are light- hearted and cartoonish, tinted in a free-for-all David Catrow palette but with a bit more compositional formality. There are no notes or reading suggestions, but they probably won’t be missed by those who need a speedy, practical introduction to a figure who’s bound to be much in the national consciousness this year.

EB




Booklist

March 13th, 2006

An authorial debut for illustrator Barretta, Now & Ben aims at the youngest readers, limiting its purview to Franklin as a slightly tubby, jolly inventor and innovator. Each left-hand page describes and illustrates one of Franklin’s contributions as we know it (“Now…our newspapers are filled with illustrations”); the opposite page goes back in time to reveal the Franklin connection (“Ben…was the first to print a political cartoon in America”). Most young children won’t grasp the play on the phrase now and then but will zero in instead on the well-chosen examples, which include bifocals and lightning rods as well as lesser-known notions (a rocking chair that churned butter!), all appealingly rendered in Barretta’s relaxed, cartoon-like watercolors. This will be a punchy read-aloud to lighten up American history units, though teachers wanting more details will need to look elsewhere as the book’s biographical context is scattershot and no end matter is provided.

-Jennifer Mattson





DVD Reviews


School Library Journal

March 16th, 2006

“A clever, concise introduction to the contributions of this colorful colonial figure. The First spread depicts Franklin standing proudly by his family home with his wife and children smiling from within. His various occupations – writer, printer, diplomat, musician, humorist, postmaster, scientist, inventor, humanitarian – are written on the cobblestones beneath him. Next ia a spread of a busy city street today, which challenges readers to guess which modern conveniences are owed to the subjects creativity. Subsequent spreads take a closer look at each invention from political cartoons, bifocals, electricity, lightning rod, and Franklin stove to daylight saving time and more. Each spread features a Now…description of a modern concept or convenience facing an early Ben… idea. Now …every automobile has an odometer to measure the distance it travels. Ben…invented the odometer when he was postmaster general so he could measure his postal routes. The fanciful final spread depicts a futuristic scene with flying-saucer vehicles and robot servers, which encourages youngsters to imagine how today’s inventions will evolve in time. Engaging and humorous watercolor cartoons depict just how Franklin’s inventions were conceived and developed. The yellow mottled endpapers are filled with sketches of the inventions featured within. Both Aliki’s The Many Lives of Benjamin Franklin (S&S, 1988) and Rosalyn Schanzer’s How Ben Franklin Stole the Lightning (Harper Collins, 2003) offer more background and biographical information, though this lively offering is sure to inspire readers to learn more about its fascinating subject.”

-Barbara Auerbach






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