The Leather Apron Club

August 15, 2021
Explore the beginnings of America's first circulating library with Ben and Billy Franklin. In 1739, William "Billy" Franklin, son of printer (and future statesman) Benjamin Franklin, starts his studies in earnest with a tutor. Joining Billy's (somewhat reluctant) academic endeavors is his cousin James. While James is bored with the tutor's stories, Billy's imagination goes wild picturing the tales from long ago. Seeing his son's delight, Ben introduces Billy to the Leather Apron Club library, a library founded by 12 tradesmen like Ben who value education and learning. It's through this story that readers are introduced to what eventually grew into the first library open to members of the public (provided those members could pay the subscription fee, as the backmatter points out). Billy narrates the meandering story, which may be of more interest to adults than the intended audience. "The men debate Politics and History and Books. / They drink Cider, eat Cake, and debate more-- / Mathematics and Geography and Finance. / Though the discussion is above me, / I feel as if I am in Heaven," he rhapsodizes. The static watercolor illustrations of the virtually all-White cast do little to entice readers. The backmatter does an admirable job summarizing Franklin's fraught relationship with an adult Billy and addresses his complex relationship with slavery. Perfect for gift shops across Philadelphia. Less so for readers. (bibliography) (Picture book. 8-10)

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September 1, 2021
Grades 1-3 In this fictionalized tribute to one of Ben Franklin's many accomplishments, the inventor's eight-year-old son, Billy, describes how his "Pappy," hearing that his wayward boy's interest had been captured by a reading of The Iliad, takes him to a meeting of what was then called the Leather Apron Club in a rented house stocked with books. "They smell of Stories, at once musty and new," marvels the dazzled narrator, and his life is changed by the "magical" experience. Yolen fills the first-person narrative with capitalized nouns and with sayings from Poor Richard's Almanack to lend an antique flavor to the prose, and though Minor's illustrations are done in a less finished style than usual, they are still filled with authentic-looking period dress and details. Closing notes, preceding a brief bibliography, fill in more details about both Franklins, including (a throw-in, but good to know anyway) Franklin senior's evolving views on slavery. "Either write something worth reading, or do something worth writing," he wrote, and here's a reminder that he did both.

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November 1, 2021
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. Ages 7–10.