Reviews

Ben Franklin: His Wit and Wisdom from A-Z by John O'Brien, Alan Schroeder

cetaylor05's review

5.0

Ben Franklin, His Wit, and Wisdom From A-Z is an unconventional nonfiction book that alphabetizes facts about Franklin’s life and splices them with the wisdom of Poor Richard’s Almanac. O’Brien employs ink and condensed watercolors in a muted color palette reminiscent of days gone by to create highly textured full-bleed, double-page spreads that are as rich and diverse as the subject himself and serve as a backdrop to vignettes and frames of text. Moreover, the informality of the text’s arrangement--weaving around and dallying with the illustrations--complements and extends the everyday wisdom proffered by Poor Richard’s Almanac. In conclusion, each opening’s wealth of detail encourages the reader to savor the beauty while warring with the subtle use of diagonal lines that urge a forward progression and results in the audience’s internal struggle to linger over the minutiae yet race to the end of this fascinating book.

hsquared's review

4.0

With an almanac design perfectly suited to the author of the popular Poor Richard’s Almanac, this book introduces children to one of America’s great early leaders. Rather than a straightforward chronological biography, Schroeder presents short entries arranged in alphabetical order on such topics as “newspaper”—an important interest of Franklin, and “turkey”—Franklin’s choice for the national bird. A perfect “browseable” book, each page is bursting with snippets of information, including many of Franklin’s famous sayings, which are scattered throughout.

Read my full review in the Spring 2012 issue of the New Mexico Journal of Reading.

beecheralyson's review

4.0

A history of the life and work of Ben Franklin from A to Z with quotes of Franklin's on the side, and interesting facts from the work that he did. Quite interesting.