What do libraries, streetlights, and fire stations have in common? What about bifocal lenses and the odometer? Sayings like "haste makes waste?” Benjamin Franklin was a man of many talents: a scientist who experimented with electricity; a diplomat who served as envoy to France and negotiated peace with Engl∧ a mapmaker, printer, and writer famous for his Poor Richard’s Almanack. He signed both the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution, and established America’s first hospital. The list of his accomplishments is astonishing and wide ranging. When he lived, his work touched the lives of every person in the new United States of America; some three hundred years later, he continues to fascinate, amaze, and inspire today’s young readers.