An excellent biography for children! | What Are You Figuring Now: A Story of Benjamin Banneker (Creative...

Courtesy of Teens Read Too | What Are You Figuring Now: A Story of Benjamin Banneker (Creative Minds Biography (Turtleback)) | Jeri Ferris

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	• What Are You Figuring Now: A Story of Benjamin Banneker (Creative Minds Biography (Turtleback)) Jeri Ferris Turtleback Books Distributed by Demco Media, 2001 average customer review:based on 3 reviews
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What Are You Figuring Now-Teaching History Through Literatur

The story of Benjamin Banneker has been a great addition to my class. I teach 7th,8th grade resource special education students in an economically disadvantaged part of rural east Texas. We read the story and study it with the use of vocabulary and questions which I have developed. The story is well written and easy enough for my slow readers to enjoy. I am very pleased to be able to teach history in this manner. My class is a reading class but we are able to use this simple book as a jumping off place to teach invention, hard work, overcoming obstacles and a myriad of other character building concepts. Highly recommended...

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An excellent biography for children!

My mother bought me these books when I was in the 3rd grade. They got me through many book reports and biography assignments in elementary school. I had never heard of Harriet Tubman, Sojourner Truth or Benjamin Banneker before. Even now that I am in college I remember things I learned from these books! I can't listen to a lecture on Washington D.C., slavery or African-Americans and not think about this book! These books are simple enough for any child to understand, and it might just spark they're interest in history too.

Courtesy of Teens Read Too

Benjamin Banneker was raised on a farm in Maryland. Growing up, he counted everything. He learned to read and constantly wanted to know more. He worked hard growing tobacco and fishing, but he wanted more than that out of his life. When a Quaker moved in nearby and started a school, Benjamin was permitted to attend. He lasted there about four years, until he learned all the Quaker had to teach him.

One day in town, he encountered a man he knew. The man had a watch that he let Benjamin borrow. Benjamin spent many hours taking the watch apart and documenting how all the pieces worked and fit together. It took Benjamin two years, but he recreated the watch and built his own working clock.

People talked, and soon many wanted to come and see the man that built the clock.

Life went on like this for Benjamin. He discovered something new and then had to master it. It was his mastery of astronomy and surveying that eventually landed him in the midst of President Washington and Thomas Jefferson. Benjamin was now part of the team that would design the layout of the new capital in Washington.

Benjamin had only a basic education by today's standards, but Ms. Ferris goes on to document the amazing accomplishments one man made on his own. She shows what hard work and perseverance can accomplish.

Reviewed by: Jaglvr

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A biography of the Afro-American farmer and self-taught mathematician, astronomer, and surveyor for the new capital city of the United States in 1791, who also calculated a successful almanac notable for its preciseness.