How Ben Franklin answered that question -- through his work as a writer, printer, statesman, and inventor -- forever established him as one of America's greatest figures. On one day in 1729 he published the first edition of the Pennsylvania Gazette; on another day he changed the Declaration of Independence by adding the famous words, "We hold these truths to be self-evident"; and it was all in a day's work when he planted the first willow trees in America. Modeled on his own Poor Richard's Almanack, this unique scrapbook captures Franklin's countless accomplishments. Biography and anecdote, cartoon and etching mesh to create a fascinating portrait of this most fascinating man. Candace Fleming spent three years researching Ben Franklin's Almanac by scouring original sources from the American Philosophical Society, the National Archives, the Library of Congress, the Franklin Collection at Yale University, and even by wandering around Liberty Square in Philadelphia, trying to invoke Ben Franklin and eighteenth-century America. Fleming has been a Ben fan since fourth grade -- when she read Ben and Me -- and she even sang happy birthday to Ben on his 296th birthday. Book jacket. Distributed by Syndetic Solutions, Inc.