Young Ben Franklin was a leader among the ten-year-old boys of Boston back in the days before the Revolutionary War,  but he was not happy about working in his father”s candlemaking shop — so he eagerly set to work for his brother, James, who opened a printing shop. There he learned the printer’s craft — and wrote many a popular ballad as well. 

 Before too long, though, he and James were getting along badly, so he ran away from home, finally arriving penniless and weary in Philadelphia. As he walked along the main street — chewing away at some long rolls which were all the food he could afford to buy — he made such a comical sight that one pretty girl burst out laughing at him ... a girl who later became his wife. 

 As a printer in Philadelphia, Franklin prospered and his Poor Richard’s Almanac became one of the best loved publications in the colonies. He also developed many inventions, of which the best known was the Franklin stove. In a famous experiment, he drew a charge of electricity from a thundercloud down a kite tail into a key. 

 In later years, he became one of the most popular leaders in the fight for independence, and later represented America as our Ambassador to France. His career, starting from simple origins and reaching great peaks of excitement and fame, has been an inspiration to generations of boys and girls and, in this fresh, exciting retelling by Enid Meadowcroft, will delight new thousands of American youngsters. 

From the dust jacket