Jake's Dream

Jake's Dream

He was definitely having a bad day.

His assignment was to come up with an idea for the “Great Ideas Fair” at his school.

But Jake couldn't think of a good idea, let alone a great one.

Meanwhile, his little sister Susan was kicking dirt around the yard and moaning.

“I'm bored,” she said. “Everything is boring.”

Jake did not want to listen to Susan complain,

so he went up to his room and started to think about a movie he saw in school.

It was about Benjamin Franklin who lived a long time ago.

Ben Franklin invented many important things and had many good ideas.

Jake wished Ben Franklin were around to help him with an idea right now.

But Jake was so tired from thinking that he fell asleep and began to dream.

In his dream, Jake went down to his mailbox where he found a letter from, of all people, Ben Franklin!

Dear Jake,

I heard you were having a problem coming up with a clever idea for your Great Ideas Fair.

I hate to see you feeling so bad, so I thought I would write you a letter.

Maybe if I tell you about some of the things I've done, it will help you get an idea of your own.

You might remember that I loved inventing contraptions.

One of my all-time favorite inventions is what you now call a grabber.

I came up with the idea one day while trying to reach a book from a high shelf in my library.

I took a wooden pole and put a kind of claw at the end.

The claw helped grab the book off the shelf.

I called it the long arm.

It was a simple idea that worked quite well.

I liked inventing things, but I also wanted to understand nature and the world around me, like lightning.

Back in my time, nobody knew what lightning was.

I thought that lightning might have something to do with electricity.

As you know, electricity is a type of energy.

It makes the lights in your house go on and your TV work.

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