Ben Franklin and the Magic Squares
#21
Written by: Frank Murphy
Illustrated by: Richard Walz
Random House Inc
2001
48 pages
Historical Fiction
This
book shows how Benjamin Franklin was a writer, scientist and an inventor. The
book illustrates how he came up
with the magic square puzzle. He said he made it to keep him from being bored
while he was working at the Pennsylvania Assembly as a clerk. This book tells
about his pet squirrel Skugg. The book also uses a lot of text boxes.
The
illustrations look like they were created in watercolor and colored pencils.
The pictures are horizontal and the text is placed informally. The colors are
not very bright so the hue is light.
This
book is appropriate for kindergarten and up but I think it would be most
valuable in a third, fourth, fifth or sixth grade classroom. This book would be
ideal to use when you are introducing Magic Squares for the first time in a
classroom. This book would be great to use when you teach about Benjamin
Franklin’s life. Another way is
to discussion the difference between historical fiction and nonfiction.
Frank Murphy has not received the Caldecott yet but he says he hopes to one
day.
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