Friday, May 4, 2012

Benjamin Franklinstein Lives



Benjamin Franklinstein Lives (Ben Franklinstein #1)
Matthew McElligott and Larry Tuxbury
G.P. Putnam’s Sons, 2010
$12.99, Hardcover
978-0399252297
March 28th, 2012

Genre: Mystery, Science Fiction
Age: 8+
Description: Meet Victor Godwin, a genius in forth grade, and meet his mom’s new tenant—Mr. Frank Benjamin, who in reality just so happens to be the reanimated 200+ year old Benjamin Franklin himself! Running into each other and instantly liking each other, they decide to combine forces to try to determine why Ben was reawakened from his suspended animation for no apparent reason. He was put in the state by the Modern Order of Prometheus to be awoken in the future if there ever was a dire situation that needed the world’s greatest minds to solve. But something has gone wrong. What happened to the rest of the members of the secret society? Can Victor and Ben create a better means of life support for Ben as he currently needs to be “recharged” quite often because if he gets low on energy he goes into a horrible rampage and looses control? Can they solve the mystery?
Opinion: First, I actually love the format of this book! It is slim but there is a black square border around every page set-up kind of like an old-fashioned journal. It actually says “page” on the bottom. There are illustrations included throughout the book and at the beginning of every chapter. Since Ben is a scientist lots of things they discuss (like the machine that kept him in suspended animation) are drawn up as scientific diagrams and charts. The big plot of this novel is finding out what happened to MOP and Ben also trying to help Victor make the best volcano experiment for his science fair. It ends with a cliffhanger as Ben’s phone—which they’ve been trying to use to reach anyone with MOP—starts ringing while they are away.

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