Founding Father In A Funk? Cheer Up, Ben Franklin by Misti Kenison

BENJAMIN FRANKLIN IS SAD.

NO ONE HAS TIME TO FLY KITES WITH HIM.

"Poor Richard" is not being a perky patriot!

All the other Founding Fathers (and Mothers) are otherwise engaged.

Betsy Ross is busily embroidering stars on a flag. Sam Adams is planning an exclusive costumed tea party down at Boston Harbor. Abigail Adams is managing the family farm while John Adams is working hard, helping Tom Jefferson draft the Declaration down in Philadelphia.

Alexander Hamilton is down at the counting house, counting out the money. Paul Revere can't wait to light his lantern and hop on his horse, and George Washington is totally engaged in drilling his dragoons.

NOBODY is down at the tavern, up for a debate with Ben.

So Ben wanders down to Independence Hall, where all his fellow founders are gathering to listen to T. J. read a document called the Declaration of Independence. Ben Franklin doesn't get his kite up, but at least the air down there is ELECTRIC with excitement--and freedom!

Misti Kenison's Cheer Up, Ben Franklin! (Young Historians) (Sourcebooks/Jabberwocky, 2017), fittingly published on the Fourth of July, sets the scene with all the Founders assembled, in this perky book which pictures all the "Fathers (and Mothers) of Our Country" as they worked to build a beginning for the country. For the youngest of American history buffs, this brief book in the publisher's Young Historians series introduces the major players in the pre-Revolutionary War period in a charming little board book that piques kids' appetites for more American lore, as author-illustrator Kenison introduces these famous figures in simple prose and appealing illustrations. Along with this one, keep Kenison's Where's Your Hat, Abe Lincoln? (Young Historians) on hand for Lincoln's Birthday and Presidents Day in February.