Full title "Ben and Me: An Astonishing Life of Benjamin Franklin By His Good Mouse Amos" is a book written by Robert Lawson. It was first published in 1939. I have a renewed copy with minor changes released in 1967. This book was also adapted into a short animated film by Disney in 1953, simply called "Ben and Me." That animated film was what got me interested in the book.
The whole idea here is that Ben Franklin was actually kind of an idiot, and if it wasn't for a talking mouse named Amos, he would never have become the famous man that he inevitably became. At first glance, this seems a little mean to one of our founding fathers... but only if you believe in talking mice. In truth, this is a cute and fun fictional story about one of history's most interesting men.
And to be fair, Amos doesn't always do what's best for Ben. In a couple circumstances, Ben's wisdom does hold out. But Amos was clearly the most pragmatic of the two, while Ben was more of a crazy loony, although I should say he was a very lovable sort of crazy loony.
One thing that did surprise me was that a scene I really liked from the film apparently was not in the book. I liked how, in the animation, Amos takes credit for inventing Ben's bifocal glasses. This is nowhere in the book, which means Disney did that themselves.
But to be fair there are things in the book that were not in the Disney film. Amos gets a cute French girlfriend mouse and fights for her cause during Ben's visit to France. It also goes into Ben's obsession with his own looks, and this was sadly very true. He really got into a bit of foppery in his day.
This book was absolutely intended to be children's literature, but weirdly enough, it is very eloquently written. Robert Lawson was born in the 1800s, so he just had a different way of writing things. Children today might have some trouble understanding some of the words he uses in the book. The renewed version of this book includes a glossary for all the words that tend not to be used anymore in today's English. Very helpful!
Of course, I recommend this book to anyone. If you want to read it, it is still in print, but it is not available on Kindle. You'll have to order up a physical copy. You can get it new, though, and very cheap. I got mine for about $7. That is an overly reasonable price for the story I got. Check it out.
This blog was written on July 23, 2025.
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