Ben Franklin’s Big Splash: The Mostly True Story of His First Invention by Barb Rosenstock (review)

Children who have already met statesman Benjamin Franklin through one of many picture-book biographies may be familiar with his early efforts to enhance his efficiency at swimming. Here Rosenstock offers a rollicking recreation of the invention process, based on Franklin’s own brief description, courteously included within the author’s note. Ben, it seems, was well ahead of his time simply by virtue of swimming at all: “Even sailors never learned to swim. Most people thought swimming would make you sick.” But inspired by the physiology of such proficient swimmers as otters and fish, young Ben devised a set a paddles for his hands (they made his wrists ache) and his feet (the paddles promptly fell off); they weren’t a grand success, but Rosenstock’s moral, which Ben himself would probably have endorsed, is that the effort itself was its own reward. The line and watercolor art takes obvious pleasure in the visual possibilities of Ben’s antics, and kids will chuckle at the myriad ways the illustrator manages to preserve Ben’s modesty as he cavorts in the river. Rosenstock sorts her own extrapolations out from Franklin’s original account and ends with a light-hearted nod to Franklin’s induction into the International Swimming Hall of Fame. A timeline and source notes are included.