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lilmatt050's review against another edition
4.0
To check out my reviews: http://dancinginth3dark.blogspot.com
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.
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.
abigailbat's review against another edition
4.0
Oh, Ben Franklin. We're fascinated by you! In addition to being another interesting story about Ben Franklin, this book emphasizes Franklin's use the scientific method to disprove the claims of physician Franz Mesmer who claimed that he could use the powers of the cosmos (harnessed through his wand) to heal people of any ailment and to get them to do or sense whatever he wanted (the roots of what is today known as hypnotism). Franklin's work with Dr. Mesmer eventually lead to the discovery of what is now known as the placebo effect and his experiments were the first blind tests that are now used for scientific experiments. So, yes, this is another true story about Ben Franklin, but it's also a great demonstration of the scientific method.
amynbell's review against another edition
5.0
Our newly-renovated Central Library is so well-curated that I can't leave without an armload full of wonderful gems like this book. Mesmerized has won 7 awards and been nominated for 3 others, so it keeps on popping up on lists of great children's books here and there. And now that I've read it, I am in agreement that it deserves every award it has received. I found it beautiful, informative, and daring. Ben Franklin has long been one of my favorite characters of history, but I somehow missed this story which definitely needed telling.
Dr. Mesmer seems as if he would be a fictional character. Between 1780 and 1850, his magic wand filled people with strange sensations, healed the sick, and entranced those who fell under its spell. In fact, it is from Dr. Mesmer's performance of "animal magnetism" that English received the word "mesmerized" (from the French mesmérisme). The king and queen of France wanted to know: who was this man and was he a charlatan or savior? So when Benjamin Franklin was visiting France as an ambassador, the French king put him to the task of discovering the secret behind Dr. Mesmer's mesmerizations. And it's from these experiments that we get the idea of the placebo effect for blind testing drugs. Dr. Mesmer seemed to have been using the power of suggestion to convince people of his powers, and it took a sceptic not willing to believe in his abilities to expose him as the fraud he was.
As a person who has always been on the skeptic's side, I appreciate Franklin's experiments greatly. I grew up with the religious version of mesmerization as the norm and was always the one person in the crowd unaffected by the laying on of hands, group laughter, warm fuzzy feelings, etc. It certainly wasn't for lack of trying, but I was always honest with myself that I didn't feel these things that those around me swore to feeling. So either they were lying about what they were feeling and there wasn't really anything happening to anyone, they were more receptive to suggestion than I was, or I was the only person that wasn't getting anything from The Spirit. It seems that the whole faith healing movement really rode in on the coattails of Dr. Mesmer as it inspired Phineas Quimby's road show in which Mary Baker Eddy was healed. Even though she decried mesmerism, her experience led to her creation of Christian Science. The rest of the faith healing movement came thereafter with many famous faith healers cropping up later in protestantism in the US in the 1930s and '40s and extending to today.
Can the power of suggestion be a real and powerful force? Yes. Can people be affected in body by believing in mind? Yes. Was Dr. Mesmer a fraud? Yes and no. There's no denying that he had an affect on people, but skeptics like me need not apply for benefit.
This is a good book for creating a very interesting dialogue and teaching children healthy skepticism and the importance of the scientific method in explaining things that don't seem to follow normal laws of cause and effect. The pictures in this book are gorgeous, often using a font and style I'd call "circus flyer" or "magic show", so the book is as aesthetically pleasing as it is interesting to read.
Dr. Mesmer seems as if he would be a fictional character. Between 1780 and 1850, his magic wand filled people with strange sensations, healed the sick, and entranced those who fell under its spell. In fact, it is from Dr. Mesmer's performance of "animal magnetism" that English received the word "mesmerized" (from the French mesmérisme). The king and queen of France wanted to know: who was this man and was he a charlatan or savior? So when Benjamin Franklin was visiting France as an ambassador, the French king put him to the task of discovering the secret behind Dr. Mesmer's mesmerizations. And it's from these experiments that we get the idea of the placebo effect for blind testing drugs. Dr. Mesmer seemed to have been using the power of suggestion to convince people of his powers, and it took a sceptic not willing to believe in his abilities to expose him as the fraud he was.
As a person who has always been on the skeptic's side, I appreciate Franklin's experiments greatly. I grew up with the religious version of mesmerization as the norm and was always the one person in the crowd unaffected by the laying on of hands, group laughter, warm fuzzy feelings, etc. It certainly wasn't for lack of trying, but I was always honest with myself that I didn't feel these things that those around me swore to feeling. So either they were lying about what they were feeling and there wasn't really anything happening to anyone, they were more receptive to suggestion than I was, or I was the only person that wasn't getting anything from The Spirit. It seems that the whole faith healing movement really rode in on the coattails of Dr. Mesmer as it inspired Phineas Quimby's road show in which Mary Baker Eddy was healed. Even though she decried mesmerism, her experience led to her creation of Christian Science. The rest of the faith healing movement came thereafter with many famous faith healers cropping up later in protestantism in the US in the 1930s and '40s and extending to today.
Can the power of suggestion be a real and powerful force? Yes. Can people be affected in body by believing in mind? Yes. Was Dr. Mesmer a fraud? Yes and no. There's no denying that he had an affect on people, but skeptics like me need not apply for benefit.
This is a good book for creating a very interesting dialogue and teaching children healthy skepticism and the importance of the scientific method in explaining things that don't seem to follow normal laws of cause and effect. The pictures in this book are gorgeous, often using a font and style I'd call "circus flyer" or "magic show", so the book is as aesthetically pleasing as it is interesting to read.
libraryrobin's review against another edition
4.0
Great nonfiction picture book for older kids! Ben Franklin disproves a charlatan's claim to have powers to cure. Discusses the scientific method, placebo effect, and hypothesis. Great cross-curricular book!
jshettel's review against another edition
4.0
Is this book fiction or nonfiction? I thought it was NF but the library has it shelved in fiction.
azajacks's review against another edition
5.0
In Reading Nonfiction, Kylene Beers and Bob Probst teach us that we read nonfiction to answer questions, but also that when we do read nonfiction we should question the "answers". This book is a great tool to teach this idea to kids.
It's also great for teaching the scientific method.
I support independent bookstores. You can use this link to find one near you: http://www.indiebound.
It's also great for teaching the scientific method.
I support independent bookstores. You can use this link to find one near you: http://www.indiebound.
2kimi2furious's review against another edition
4.0
This was a fun little read. The pictures were amazing and the text was beautifully (if not a little busily) laid out. This would definitely be fun for older kids to learn about the scientific method without being overly dry and boring. I always learn something better when I hear it is a story.
michelle_neuwirth_gray9311's review against another edition
4.0
Loved the illustrations! I also really liked how they wove the Scientific Method into the story to show how it was used in a real life situation.