"This read-along shows how Ben Franklin, one of 17 children in a poor family in Colonial Massachusetts, became one of our greatest statesmen and inventors. Patrick Collins's narration is deliberate in pace as he details the many scientific and literary contributions for which Franklin is known. His expressive narration also takes listeners through the last third of Franklin's life, when he traveled abroad and served at home to help establish the young nation. This straightforward biography is embellished with soft background music and sound effects that are picked up from the details in the lively, quaint illustrations in the accompanying book."