Ben’s Book Club Family Edition: ‘A Ben of All Trades’ by Michael J. Rosen
Wednesday August 18th 2021, 5pm BST/12pm EDT. Register here.
Join us for the August installment of Ben’s Book Club, a monthly virtual gathering looking at themes relating to Benjamin Franklin, the 18th century, and American history.
In this month’s special family edition of Ben’s Book Club, we will be talking to Michael J. Rosen about his book, ‘A Ben of All Trades: The Most Inventive Boyhood of Benjamin Franklin’. This rousing biography, illustrated by Matt Tavares, reveals how Benjamin Franklin’s boyhood shaped his amazingly multifaceted life.
Young Benjamin Franklin wants to be a sailor, but his father won’t hear of it. The other trades he tries — candle maker, joiner, boot closer, turner — bore him through and through. Curious and inventive, Ben prefers to read, swim, fly his kite, and fly his kite while swimming. But each time he fails to find a profession, he takes some important bit of knowledge with him. That tendency is exactly what leads him to become the astonishingly versatile genius we remember today.
Inspired by The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin, Michael J. Rosen’s wry tale captures Ben’s spirit in evocative yet playful language, while illustrations by Matt Tavares follow Ben from the workbench to the water in vivid detail. A love story to the value of variety, ‘A Ben of All Trades’ sheds light on an unconventional path to greatness and humanizes a towering figure in American history.
Michael J. Rosen is the creator of a wide variety of more than 150 books for both adults and young readers. He is a poet, editor, writer of fiction and non-fiction, humorist, illustrator, ceramic artist, and playwright…and companion animal to a cattle dog named Chant.
You can purchase a hardcopy or audio book of ‘A Ben of All Trades’ here.
Join us even if you don’t have a chance to read the book by the event date!
This event is free of charge but please consider making an online donation here to support the work of Benjamin Franklin House.
