Ben Franklin

Hello! My name is Benjamin Franklin, and I want to tell you my story. I was born a long, long time ago, in 1706, in a busy city called Boston. I was one of seventeen children! With so many brothers and sisters, our house was always full of noise and fun. My two favorite things to do were reading and swimming. I would read any book I could get my hands on, learning about the world from the pages. When I wasn't reading, I was splashing in the water, trying to swim faster than anyone else.

When I was a boy, I went to work with my older brother, James. He owned a printing shop, a place where they made newspapers and books. It smelled of ink and paper, and I loved it! I helped him set the little metal letters to print words. Watching words turn into stories that everyone could read was like magic to me. It made me want to write my own stories and share my own big ideas with the world. I even wrote some secret articles for my brother’s newspaper and signed them with a funny name so he wouldn't know it was me!

When I grew up, I moved to a new city called Philadelphia. My mind was always buzzing with questions, like a busy bee in a garden. I wondered about everything! One of my biggest questions was about the lightning I saw flashing in the sky during a storm. I wondered, 'What is it?' I had an idea that it might be a powerful form of electricity. To find out, I decided to do a very famous experiment. On a dark and stormy day in 1752, I attached a metal key to a kite string and flew it high into the thundering clouds. A spark jumped from the key to my hand! It didn't hurt me, but it proved my idea was right: lightning was electricity! It was a very exciting day.

My curiosity didn't stop with lightning. I was always thinking of ways to make life better for people. My eyes started having trouble seeing things both far away and up close. So, I invented special glasses called bifocals, which had two different kinds of lenses in one frame. Now I could read a book and see across the room without changing my glasses! I also saw that fireplaces in people's homes were smoky and didn't give off much heat. So, I created a special metal stove, called the Franklin stove, that kept houses warmer and safer. It made me happy to solve problems and help others.

As I got older, I wanted to help not just with inventions, but with building our whole country. America was not yet its own country, and I believed it should be. I worked with other leaders and helped write a very important paper called the Declaration of Independence. This was our way of saying, 'We want to be in charge of ourselves!' During the big war for freedom, I sailed all the way to a country called France to ask for their help, and they said yes! It was a long journey, but it helped America win and become a new, free nation.

After many years of working, inventing, and helping to build a country, my life came to an end in 1790. I learned that you are never too young or too old to be curious. Asking questions, working hard to find the answers, and helping your neighbors can change the world. So, always keep wondering, keep learning, and you can make a big difference, too.