Thursday, February 27, 2014
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Thursday, February 6, 2014
Wednesday, February 5, 2014
Ben And Me
This is the book I remember reading as a kid, the full title is apparently "Ben and Me: An Astonishing Life of Benjamin Franklin by His Good Mouse Amos"
I don't have a strong recollection of the plot, but as I recall it had a pseudo-nonfictional introduction in which historical surveyors are confused by the discovery of mouse-sized furniture in a wall of Benjamin Franklin's old home. The rest was a first-person narration by the mouse, Amos, mostly involving him helping Franklin formulate some of his more famous ideas. I think there was more emphasis on the writing of Poor Richard's Almanack and Franklin's famous scientific endeavors (the kite experiment, naturally) than anything else. I also seem to recall that the book painted Franklin as a bumbling, spacey guy who relied on Amos to help strengthen his thoughts through rigorous debate, and took credit for ideas that Amos actually came up with (but being a mouse, couldn't publish himself). I can't decide whether Franklin would be insulted or amused by this portrayal, though after reading the first half of his Autobiography I'm inclined towards the latter.
I don't have a strong recollection of the plot, but as I recall it had a pseudo-nonfictional introduction in which historical surveyors are confused by the discovery of mouse-sized furniture in a wall of Benjamin Franklin's old home. The rest was a first-person narration by the mouse, Amos, mostly involving him helping Franklin formulate some of his more famous ideas. I think there was more emphasis on the writing of Poor Richard's Almanack and Franklin's famous scientific endeavors (the kite experiment, naturally) than anything else. I also seem to recall that the book painted Franklin as a bumbling, spacey guy who relied on Amos to help strengthen his thoughts through rigorous debate, and took credit for ideas that Amos actually came up with (but being a mouse, couldn't publish himself). I can't decide whether Franklin would be insulted or amused by this portrayal, though after reading the first half of his Autobiography I'm inclined towards the latter.
I have never seen the Disney short film (released in 1953 and apparently Disney's first animated short subject) so I can't speak to its quality, but here it is in its entirety on Youtube if you want to watch it:
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