At one time Benjamin Franklin's greatest desire was to sail forth from Boston Harbor to find adventure far away. He finally did leave Boston for New York, but not until he had spent five long years indentured to his brother James, learning the printing trade.

New York, in those days, was not so big a town as Boston and there were so many people in it who spoke Dutch that there was little need for a printer of English. So Ben determined to start for Philadelphia, one hundred miles away. He landed at Market Street Wharf four days later. He worked for a printer for a while, then he went on to London. Eighteen months later he returned to America and then started that part of his life which we are most familiar: He went in the printing business himself; published the Pennsylvania Gazette; wrote his well known almanac, Poor Richard; organized the first fire company in Philadelphia and the first subscription library in America; was elected clerk to the General Assembly and made post-master of Philadelphia. He arranged meetings and drew up plans for an association to defend Pennsylvania from the French privateers. Yet with all this he found time to study, read, and experiment. His experiment with a kite, a key and a Leyden jar showed without a doubt that lightning is electricity. He went again to London, this time as a messenger from the Pennsylvania Assembly to try to straighten out the differences between the governor appointed by the Penns and the Assembly. Constantly he tried to make the English feel that their distant American colonies were part of England and that the men who had settled there should be given the rights and privileges of Englishmen. He was also instrumental in having the Stamp Act repealed. He was a signer of the Declaration of Independence; went to France to gain help from the French government; helped to draw up the Treaty of Alliance between France and the United States; laid plans with John Paul Jones for the formation of a fleet with five vessels. After the surrender of Cornwallis and the signing of the Treaty of Peace in Paris two years later Franklin said, "May we never see another war! For in my opinion there never was a good war or a bad peace." Soon after his return from France he was made President of the State of Pennsylvania, and was influential in holding together the Constitutional Convention at a crucial moment in the history of our country.

In this book we see Benjamin Franklin as a small boy doing the things and thinking the thoughts of a small boy; we see him with his wife and children and grandchildren; we see him working for his country. Here for the first time is presented to young readers the story of this lovable human being.

Mrs. Meadowcroft has drawn an accurate picture of the times. As in all her books, the background of the story is dramatic as well as authentic. The characters are real and alive and full of energy. The illustrations by Donald McKay are fresh and vigorous.

From the dust jacket