Friday, August 12, 2016

Mesmerized: How Ben Franklin Solved a Mystery that Baffled All of France by Mara Rockliff


Rating: 


In case you have forgotten about U.S. History I will refresh your memory a little bit. Before the United States of America existed, we originally were the 13 colonies that belonged to England and after being mistreated by the monarchy we decided to seek our independence and went to war with England. Being a freshly established society in the Americas, we were broke as fu%@k! So we needed that dough and the only way we could get it is if France helped us out which wasn't easy considering we were at war with France about 20 years before 1776.

Being the celebrity that Benjamin Franklin was, we made him the ambassador to convince King Louis XVI to offer us some money so off he went to Paris. Being an old man was not an easy task to accomplish especially this long voyage but luckily Franklin survived the voyage and went to speak to the King. Even though Franklin wasn't royalty, he was treated like one in France because everyone around the world knew who he was thanks to his brilliance and King Louis XVI used that to his advantage in terms of the chaos that was breaking in Paris.

There was this man named Dr. Mesmer who miraculous could cure people's illness without medical treatment and with using his wand he could pretty much command a performance and freak the audience with mysterious tricks. Doctors were furious about Dr. Mesmer because now the civilians were refusing to attend to their physician and seek the proper healthcare they needed but they had no proof to show that Dr. Mesmer is a crook.

So in exchange of France's support, King Louis XVI hired Benjamin Franklin to figure out the mystery using science. Through the story, you learn how Benjamin Franklin used what is now called the scientific method and being the badass that he is, he quickly was able to discover Dr. Mesmer tricks and put an end to this chaos that engulfed Paris. 

The illustrations were great and it is fascinating to learn new information about a historical person who is practically a founding father of America helped the King of France in order to secure the funds to help our revolution. The reason why this book is not 5 stars material for me is they kept trying to shove education information about science in practically every page.

I know this book while curiously entertaining for children it's suppose to educate us how Benjamin Franklin used the Scientific method which didn't have a name at the time so in other words Benjamin Franklins common sense to solve a mystery. Children do not know what the scientific method is so the book explains it with some of Franklin's experiments but how scientist use this method in the 21st century.

I would have preferred if they didn't included the 21st century talk because it distracted me from the story and it felt like I was in school again learning about science which was a difficult subject for me and I can imagine children rolling their eyes at that section too. I believe kids should read this book because if gives them knowledge in an entertaining way and what better way to teach their parents, teachers and their friends about a historical idol of American History.

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