Customer Reviews

Ben and Me: An Astonishing Life of Benjamin Franklin by His Good Mouse Amos

5 star:		(28)
4 star:		(10)
3 star:		(12)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Ben and Me is a delightful biography of Benjamin Franklin written by Robert Lawson. The novel is marvelous for children. It is educational. It teaches a lot about the founding of the country and mainly about one of the men who made it possible. Ben and Me is fabulously entertaining. Amos's own adventures are thrilling, and his stories about Ben are hilarious. Any child or adult with a sense of humor will laugh at this book. Anyone who reads this book will learn while laughing. Robert Lawson was the author and illustrator of many great children's books, but Ben and Me was probably the best, and it will be around for many years to come.

ISBN 0440420385 (which now belongs to another book) - Really well-done, tongue in cheek "biography" of Benjamin Franklin, a man who is "undeniably stupid at times", according to Amos, the mouse, whose brilliant ideas seem to be all that stand between Franklin and certain death with his crazy experiments.

Amos, oldest of 26 children, comes from a family of church mice. Knowing how hard it is to feed such a brood, Amos sets out to try to find some way to help his family and stumbles into the home of Ben Franklin. Ben is sneezing away in a room thick with smoke from the fireplace until Amos gives him almost every detail Ben needs to create the famous Franklin Stove. Thrilled to have such a great mind at hand, Franklin works out an agreement with Amos and the two go on living and working together. When the Revolutionary War takes a financial toll on Washington's army, the two go to France to borrow from the French and Amos is able, with a great deal of help, to save one beautiful female mouse named Sophia and her seven children. After this final adventure, Amos is ready to settle down to a quiet life in his old age and thinks Ben should, too.

The back cover says the book is for ages 8-12. I think it might be a little tough for 8 year olds, with a large number of big words, but it's amusing enough that an 8 year old might make the effort to learn the words and expand their vocabulary. For the parents who worry about every little word in every book their kid reads, there's a couple disparaging "stupids" and one sentence that has Ben Franklin "tossing off" a shot of brandy. For those who just want their kid to enjoy a book and learn new words, this one's WELL worth it.

- AnnaLovesBooks

Through the years some books stay with you. Some in the forefront of your memory, some sit quietly in the dusty corners, like treasure chests left by tiny pirates. Ben and Me is a treasure chest in the dusty corners of my mind. It must be 25 years since I first read it, but I recently discovered that I could tell much of the story by memory to my son who is engrossed in a Benjamin Franklin project for school. The fierce mouse battle, the towering wigs worn by the ladies of the court, Ben's old fur hat with the holes in it... so many vivid and wonderful memories.

A great read for the kids who rooted for Wilbur in Charlotte's Web or those who zoomed along with Mr. Toad in Wind in the Willows.

Now- where did I put my copy??

It's easy to love sweet little Amos, the Mouse in Colonial American who befriended Ben Franklin and through him delivered the world its greatest inventions, including electricity.

Walt Disney thought so too and he made "Ben and Me" right after Disneyland opened up. So soon it will be the 50th anniversary of the cartoon. I don't think the cartoon is a feature length film, but I know it's longer than the average Looney Tunes--probably around half an hour. Charlie Ruggles played the dim-witted likable Ben, fussing with his glasses and kindly making Amos little treats. As for Amos, his voice was that of Aterling Holloway whose voice was used in so many Disney movies he was practically an employee at the Mouse Factory.

For Disney, the challenge of animating another mouse (besides Mickey, who had made Walt famous) was immense. It is said that Disney really dug Lawson's story of a mouse who uses his power to make a human famous, for it was his own story in a way.

The book is great for kids and if you like this one, check out MR REVERE AND I, sort of the same story except told by a horse--the horse Paul Revere used on his famous ride that starts out, "Hardly a man is still alive!" Well, as you can imagine from BEN AND ME, that horse has a very different story to tell that Longfellow did! Heartwarming and historic.

The story of Ben and Me is a biography of Benjamin Franklin from the eyes of his pet mouse, Amos. While this book had some facts, it was mostly historical fiction with funny twists. I enjoyed this, yet i seriously doubt that all of Franklin's brilliant ideas were actually thought up by a mouse. This is a good book and have fun reading!

Ben and Me is a biography of Benjamin Franklin, as told by his mouse Amos, a one-time church mouse who came to live with Franklin, specifically in the famous American's wig. The mouse's manuscript was found, edited, and published in 1939 by Robert Lawson, who also illustrated the text. This book was one of my favorites when I was growing up. I read it through countless times, and I spent a lot of time tracing over Lawson's wonderful illustrations. If you want history as it *really* happened, through the eyes of a rodent who was there and who can really write, this is the book for you.

Reviewed by Debra Hamel, author of Trying Neaira: The True Story of a Courtesan's Scandalous Life in Ancient Greece

I taught this book one-on-one with a fourth-grader. He seemed to enjoy it and appreciated the sly humor. And I did also. He also seemed quite thrilled to learn about Franklin and all the historical elements included. I identified several hundred words to increase the young reader's vocabulary. Written in the 30's, I believe, this is not the cotton candy fluff so prevalent today. But it is a spoonfull of sugar to help the medicine go down. A terrific way to get kids involved in history and not turn them (or the teacher) off. One of the best of over a hundred kid's books I have read lately.

This book BEN and ME written by Robert Lawson is about a mouse named Amos who walks up to Ben Franklin's house and meets him. One of the most interesting things in the book is when the war started against the peasant mice and the rich mice. In my opinion the book is great.I loved it.

If you like fun filled educational books, you have got to check out the book Ben and Me, written by Robert Lawson. It is about Ben Franklin and a mouse named Amos. Amos acts like he is a little know-it-all, and Ben is a stupid person. But is that really what happened? You decide. I hope you have as much fun as I did.

I read this book over 35 years ago and it still stands out as one of the best children's books I've read...and I was a voracious reader. I wanted to hop into Ben's hat, too, and help discover electricity. Loved the tiny, little book that Amos was writing. I was not convinced that Amos was not a real-life historical character...he just came to life! Now my children have read Ben and Me and they are in love too.