Monthly Archives: April 2011


Who Was Ben Franklin? By Dennis Brindell Fradin Illustrated by John O’Brien

Who Was Ben Franklin? By Dennis Brindell Fradin Illustrated by John O’Brien

Late winter and spring is the time in school when many students read biographies of famous people. Starting in the lower grades youngsters scramble trying to find someone who is interesting enough to read about and write an assignment on and maybe even present it in character. Athletes, pop stars and others compete with famous historical characters. Here they learn about their lives, discover what their accomplishments were, what hardships and challenges they faced and hopefully they will see them as role models. (Maybe better they choose someone from times past than now as some of the more famous make poor role models) The range of biographies available for the younger to middle school readers is quite vast and there are many to choose from. The authors of these books manage to pack a lot of information into them, while making the person seem real and authentic.

Who Was Ben Franklin” is in the series Who Was…? which includes famous names such are Albert Einstein, Ferdinand Magellan, John Kennedy to name a few. The books are literally crammed full of information with interesting and amusing illustrations to highlight points of the person’s life, or to visually present something that was discussed. The series is aimed at the lower grade students (grades 2-5) and is presented in an interesting and engaging style with comic book style illustrations. The books are small with a large font, well spaced so that the page isn’t overwhelming for beginner or early independent readers.

“Who Was Ben Franklin” is packed full of information on the founding father. From his youth Ben Franklin’s life is described in reasonable detail (spoiler alert – he did ‘t really come from a loving home) and his thirst for adventure, his curiosity and great mind is obvious. Each of his contributions is covered and at times they are mesmerizing. How could one man accomplish so much in his life? As the opening section states he was “a man of many talents” and  “did so much that people claimed he had magical powers.” Inventor, statesman, scientist and quite a young rogue Ben’s many accomplishments and life story are presented in a very readable manner.

I quite liked this book and certainly learned a lot about Ben Franklin. I thought I knew about his life, but was I wrong. Dennis Brindell Fradin has done a wonderful job of packing so much information into this really slim book.


447 Years Old and Still Kicking

447 Years Old and Still Kicking

Image via Wikipedia

447 Years Old and Still Kicking!! ‘Tis the Bards 447th birthday

447 Years Ago – a sonneteer was born
To the harsh world, but to a loving family
447 years ago was 1616 and the Americas were new and so was he
Little did the family know that 447 years later their son would be remembered
Remembered as one of the greatest writers of all time
But to this day, Shakespeare is still alive and still kicking
But in his literature – his literature which lives forever

To read more about this wonderful man and how to celebrate his birthday, Click Here.


A Little Bit About Merlin

We got our beloved cat Merlin in 2005. I desperately wanted a cat because, well,  I just love cats. So one day in late September my mother and I went into Petco. I had a habit of begging my mom to go and look at the cats (and the fish, and the hamsters, and the ferrets, and basically anything else they sell there that breathes – except the crickets) while we were near Petco. We usually did not get anything and I usually came out with the big and teary eyes. The only difference this time was that there were quite a lot of cats this Saturday. As we walked in I was greeted with the little mews and I instantly ran over to the different cages. We were there for about an hour and I kept walking over to this cage with these two white kittens in it. When it was time to go I was whining and saying no. I had found a cat which I liked and I was NOT leaving.  So after a little more begging, she finally gave in after a lot and a lot of thinking and a lot of the

“Its going to be a big responsibility. You are going to have to feed him and clean him and do his litter.”

So I said yes, yes, yes, yes, yes. I wanted the white kitten. I would fly to the moon if I had to to get this kitten. Eventually they let me hold the kitten and I knew that he was right for me and then the paper was being filled out and the phone calls were being made. When we brought him home he was very small and only 8 weeks old. It took a few weeks for him to be better because he was a rescue cat and he had ear mites and he had glassy eyes but our love and some medication made him all better.

In a few weeks he had rounded out and was a little bigger and in about a year he was about the size he is now and he was very energetic (and still is). He finds enough ways to be under our feet and sometimes to be pesky as ever. But we still love him and could not live without him. Usually.