Available:*
Library | Call Number | Status |
|---|---|---|
Searching... Hardwood Creek Library (Forest Lake) | J 973.30922 YOL | Searching... Unknown |
Searching... Oakdale Library | J 973.30922 YOL | Searching... Unknown |
Searching... Park Grove Library (Cottage Grove) | J 973.30922 YOL | Searching... Unknown |
Searching... R.H. Stafford Library (Woodbury) | J 973.30922 YOL | Searching... Unknown |
Searching... Stillwater Public Library | J 973.30922 YOL | Searching... Unknown |
Searching... Wildwood Library (Mahtomedi) | J 973.30922 YOL | Searching... Unknown |
Bound With These Titles
On Order
Summary
Summary
A powerful celebration of libraries from master storyteller Jane Yolen. Benjamin Franklin introduces his son Billy to the Leather Apron Club, where it's love at first page.
When Billy's father Benjamin Franklin announces that Billy and his lazy cousin James will soon have a tutor, Billy is initially dismayed. But his tutor awakens him to the power of story and books, and when Billy accompanies his father to the Leather Apron Club (which Franklin started in 1727), he decides to do more with his education and life.
Best-selling author Jane Yolen introduces readers to the Leather Apron Club. Not only was the Club the first successful lending library in the United States--it also exists to this day as the Library Company of Philadelphia! Careful readers will notice that the story cleverly incorporates famous sayings from Ben Franklin's Poor Richard's Almanack , underscoring the lasting impact of words.
Author Notes
Jane Yolen was born February 11, 1939 in New York City. She received a bachelor's degree from Smith College in 1960 and a master's degree in education from the University of Massachusetts in 1976. After college, she became an editor in New York City and wrote during her lunch break. She sold her first children's book, Pirates in Petticoats, at the age of 22. Since then, she has written over 300 books for children, young adults, and adults.
Her other works include the Emperor and the Kite, Owl Moon, How Do Dinosaurs Say Goodnight? and The Devil's Arithmetic. She has won numerous awards including the Kerlan Award, the Regina Medal, the Keene State Children's Literature Award, the Caldecott Medal, two Nebula Awards, two Christopher Medals, the World Fantasy Award, three Mythopoeic Fantasy Awards, the Golden Kite Award, the Jewish Book Award, the World Fantasy Association's Lifetime Achievement Award, and the Association of Jewish Libraries Award.
(Bowker Author Biography)
Reviews (3)
Publisher's Weekly Review
Inspired by the life of William "Billy" Franklin, son of Benjamin Franklin, this first-person account conveyed in lengthy free verse opens in Philadelphia, 1739, when rowdy Billy is eight years old; eventually, a new tutor inspires a love of reading, and the elder Franklin allows the younger to bear witness to a meeting of the Leather Apron Club, 12 friends who meet "weekly to discuss issues of morality, philosophy, and politics," as well as read at the Club's library, "the first free lending library in the United States," per an author's note. Interspersing quotes from Poor Richard's Almanack, Yolen makes Billy's emotions relatable to young audiences: "Pappy... has written the best-known Book/ in all of Philadelphia,/ printed on his own Press--/Poor Richard's Almanack./ It is full of sayings to make people wise,/ though if you ask me, I think it is a little boring." Muted watercolors by Minor offer sketch-like, realistic white figures in this historical fiction, which may appeal more to adults. Front matter includes a note about capitalizations; back matter includes more historical context and information, as well as an author's note. Ages 7--10. (Sept.)
Kirkus Review
Explore the beginnings of America's first circulating library with Ben and Billy Franklin. In 1739, William "Billy" Franklin, son of printer (and future statesman) Benjamin Franklin, starts his studies in earnest with a tutor. Joining Billy's (somewhat reluctant) academic endeavors is his cousin James. While James is bored with the tutor's stories, Billy's imagination goes wild picturing the tales from long ago. Seeing his son's delight, Ben introduces Billy to the Leather Apron Club library, a library founded by 12 tradesmen like Ben who value education and learning. It's through this story that readers are introduced to what eventually grew into the first library open to members of the public (provided those members could pay the subscription fee, as the backmatter points out). Billy narrates the meandering story, which may be of more interest to adults than the intended audience. "The men debate Politics and History and Books. / They drink Cider, eat Cake, and debate more-- / Mathematics and Geography and Finance. / Though the discussion is above me, / I feel as if I am in Heaven," he rhapsodizes. The static watercolor illustrations of the virtually all-White cast do little to entice readers. The backmatter does an admirable job summarizing Franklin's fraught relationship with an adult Billy and addresses his complex relationship with slavery. Perfect for gift shops across Philadelphia. Less so for readers. (bibliography) (Picture book. 8-10) Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Booklist Review
In this fictionalized tribute to one of Ben Franklin's many accomplishments, the inventor's eight-year-old son, Billy, describes how his "Pappy," hearing that his wayward boy's interest had been captured by a reading of The Iliad, takes him to a meeting of what was then called the Leather Apron Club in a rented house stocked with books. "They smell of Stories, at once musty and new," marvels the dazzled narrator, and his life is changed by the "magical" experience. Yolen fills the first-person narrative with capitalized nouns and with sayings from Poor Richard's Almanack to lend an antique flavor to the prose, and though Minor's illustrations are done in a less finished style than usual, they are still filled with authentic-looking period dress and details. Closing notes, preceding a brief bibliography, fill in more details about both Franklins, including (a throw-in, but good to know anyway) Franklin senior's evolving views on slavery. "Either write something worth reading, or do something worth writing," he wrote, and here's a reminder that he did both.
