James Madison Book Award Winner, 2007

A Dangerous Engine: Benjamin Franklin, from Scientist to Diplomat
Author: Joan Dash
Illustrator: Dušan Petričić
Publisher: Frances Foster Books/Farrar, Straus and Giroux

A Dangerous Engine: Benjamin Franklin, from Scientist to Diplomat draws young readers into the life of a founding father who was equally adventurous in his home-based laboratory and on the world’s stage. Using a little-known book by Franklin containing his experiments and observations on electricity, author Joan Dash describes Franklin’s scientific discoveries in fascinating detail. Middle school students will become acquainted with Franklin as a human being and not just a historical figure, as they witness how his fierce desire to understand the world around him fueled his work as a scientist and characterized his successful career as America’s first foreign diplomat. With imaginative pen-and-ink illustrations by Dušan Petričić, this book captures Benjamin Franklin’s unique spirit and that of the revolutionary times in which he lived.

Press Release: Lynne Cheney Announces 2007 James Madison Book Award Winner on Constitution Day

James Madison Honor Books, 2007

Freedom Walkers: The Story of the Montgomery Bus Boycott
Author: Russell Freedman
Publisher: Holiday House

Russell Freedman brings a new perspective to a familiar topic by using the actual words and deeds of both ordinary people and prominent figures such as Rosa Parks and Martin Luther King, Jr. to explain the events leading up to and surrounding the Montgomery Bus Boycott. Freedom Walkers: The Story of the Montgomery Bus Boycott is a riveting and inspirational account of this pivotal campaign in the civil rights movement, which began when one brave African-American woman refused to give up her seat and move to the back of the bus. Most appropriate for children in grades four to six, this book includes powerful black-and-white photographs that convey to young readers what it was like to live through this tumultuous period in our nation’s history.

Saving the Buffalo
Author: Albert Marrin
Publisher: Scholastic Nonfiction

In Albert Marrin’s brilliant narrative, students in grades five through seven will learn how the buffalo went from being the most common land animal in North America to near extinction, and how it has made a dramatic comeback in recent years. The buffalo was once the keystone animal in the prairie ecosystem, but was not safe from threats, both natural and human. Saving the Buffalo chronicles the relationship between these remarkable creatures and their environment, at once telling the story of Native Americans, Westward Expansion, and the buffalo itself. The book is filled with glossy reproductions of prints and paintings, pictures of artifacts, and past and present day photographs that pay tribute to the “Lord of the Plains.”

Read about the 2006 James Madison Book Award Winner