{"product_id":"the-leather-apron-club-isbn-9781580897198","title":"The Leather Apron Club","description":"\u003cb\u003eA powerful celebration of libraries from master storyteller Jane Yolen. Benjamin Franklin introduces his son Billy to the Leather Apron Club, where it's love at first page.\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eWhen Billy's father Benjamin Franklin announces that Billy and his lazy cousin James will soon have a tutor, Billy is initially dismayed. But his tutor awakens him to the power of story and books, and when Billy accompanies his father to the Leather Apron Club (which Franklin started in 1727), he decides to do more with his education and life. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBest-selling author Jane Yolen introduces readers to the Leather Apron Club. Not only was the Club the first successful lending library in the United States--it also exists to this day as the Library Company of Philadelphia! Careful readers will notice that the story cleverly incorporates famous sayings from Ben Franklin's \u003ci\u003ePoor Richard's Almanack\u003c\/i\u003e, underscoring the lasting impact of words.Inspired by the life of William “Billy” Franklin, son of Benjamin  Franklin, this first-person account conveyed in lengthy free verse opens  in Philadelphia, 1739, when rowdy Billy is eight years old; eventually,  a new tutor inspires a love of reading, and the elder Franklin allows  the younger to bear witness to a meeting of the Leather Apron Club, 12  friends who meet “weekly to discuss issues of morality, philosophy, and  politics,” as well as read at the Club’s library, “the first free  lending library in the United States,” per an author’s note.  Interspersing quotes from Poor Richard’s Almanack, Yolen makes  Billy’s emotions relatable to young audiences: “Pappy... has written the  best-known Book\/ in all of Philadelphia,\/ printed on his own Press—\/Poor Richard’s Almanack.\/  It is full of sayings to make people wise,\/ though if you ask me,  I  think it is a little boring.” Muted watercolors by Minor offer  sketch-like, realistic white figures in this historical fiction, which  may appeal more to adults. Front matter includes a note about  capitalizations; back matter includes more historical context and  information, as well as an author’s note. \u003cbr\u003e—\u003ci\u003ePublishers Weekly\u003c\/i\u003eJane Yolen is the award-winning author of over three hundred children's books including \u003ci\u003eLast Laughs: Prehistoric Epitaphs\u003c\/i\u003e and \u003ci\u003eLast Laughs: Animal Epitaphs, Bad Girls\u003c\/i\u003e (with Heidi E. Y. Stemple); \u003ci\u003eOwl Moon\u003c\/i\u003e, a Caldecott Medal Winner; the How Do Dinosaurs . . . ? series, and \u003ci\u003eSea Queens\u003c\/i\u003e. She has been called the Hans Christian Andersen of the Americas. Jane lives in Western Massachusetts and Scotland.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eWendell Minor has designed more than two thousand book covers and written and\/or illustrated more than fifty children's books, including many in collaboration with Jean Craighead George. Recent titles include \u003ci\u003eTrapped!, How Big Could Your Pumpkin Grow?, \u003c\/i\u003eand\u003ci\u003e If You Were a Panda Bear.\u003c\/i\u003e Wendell has collaborated with Rob Burleigh on \u003ci\u003eNight Flight: Amelia Earhart Crosses the Atlantic , Abraham Lincoln Comes Home, If You Spent a Day with Thoreau at Walden Pond, \u003c\/i\u003eand\u003ci\u003e Into the Woods: John James Audubon Lives His Dream.\u003c\/i\u003e","brand":"Charlesbridge","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46300271214821,"sku":"NP9781580897198","price":17.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1842\/7735\/files\/9781580897198.jpg?v=1767740189","url":"https:\/\/k12savings.com\/es\/products\/the-leather-apron-club-isbn-9781580897198","provider":"K12savings","version":"1.0","type":"link"}