Go Fly a Kite, Ben Franklin! would be used for 3rd and 4th graders as an independent read. The story uses questions throughout the text to make it engaging and understandable. This book can be used to teach foreshadowing, the book uses many hints about what Ben Franklin will do later in his life. It is a basic way to present the idea of using this form of figurative language. This book could also be used as a reference for learning about inventions or about American history. Ben Franklin was both influential in american history and on inventions still used today. The students could use this as a reference book for knowledge.

This chapter book tells the story of Benjamin Franklin's life through simple text and black and white illustrations. In order to make the information appealing and accessible to young readers, the dates included are limited only to the most important and many of events of Franklin's life are told as interesting anecdotes. This style, combined with the chapter book format makes the book read more like a story than a history textbook. This biography provides a good introduction to Benjamin Franklin for upper elementary students and offers a gentle introduction to the Revolutionary War and the founding of the United States. In some places, however, the text tends to be very vague rather than try to explain a complicated historic concept (for example, the Stamp Act). I would recommend this very readable biography for elementary school libraries where it would likely be used heavily for history and biography assignments. ( )