The History Maker Bios series offers introductions to the lives of historical figures found in the core of every history curriculum. Filled with true stories, historical photographs, artwork, and caricatures, each title in this lively series will entertain and inform readers. When he was around twelve years old, Benjamin Franklin made his first invention--paddles he attached to his wrists to help him swim faster. They hurt, so instead he used a kite to pull him across the water. The fifteenth of seventeen children, Franklin left home when he was just seventeen. Go back in history to see what Franklin's life was like, and discover how he helped America gain its independence.