In simple, vivid language Margaret Cousins tells the story of one of the most famous and well-beloved Americans of his time.

Although he learned the craft of printing as a boy and always referred to himself thereafter as a printer, Benjamin Franklin was skilled in a great number of other fields as well. He was an inventor, a musician, a newspaper editor, a writer, a statesman, and a man who made friends wherever he went. He helped write the Declaration of Independence, and he was a member of the Constitutional Congress.

Miss Cousins takes us with Ben from Boston to Philadelphia, across the sea to England and France, and back again to Philadelphia. In our travels we meet his father, who sometimes thought the boy would be a failure; Ben's brother James, who taught him printing; Sir William Keith, who sent Ben to England; King Louis XVI; and other famous personages.

Readers of this story of Ben Franklin and his achievements will find that it is also a thrilling story of the young United States from 1706 to 1790. For almost everything that occurred in Ben's lifetime felt the touch of his warm, friendly, and skillful hand.

From the book.

Benjamin Franklin is an old friend of hers. She read his Autobiography at the age of ten, having got it out of the library by mistake. Even then, Franklin struck her as just the sort of person she'd like to have for a friend. She has never recovered from this feeling about him. A note about the author taken from the dust jacket