Narrative Nonfiction

How a
Changed
the World by Amy Bolt

Rain pours from the sky in sheets,

thunder crashes all around, and the
flash from lightning shines on one brave
man battling the storm. Who could this
brave man be? None other than our
very own Benjamin Franklin.
Benjamin Franklin believed that
thunderclouds carried electricity and
that lightning was a large flash of
electricity. He wondered if electricity
could be useful and if it could, how?
Benjamin Franklin also wanted to find
a way to protect houses from getting hit
by lightning. That is why one stormy
night, Benjamin Franklin stood in the
middle of a field, holding a kite.

• Narrative nonfiction tells about real people and real
events in the form of a story.
• Narrative nonfiction can have characters who are
people living today or from history, and a beginning,
middle, and end.
• Narrative nonfiction also has a topic, which is what
the selection is about, a main idea about that topic,
and details and facts that support the main idea.
• Now read to find out about this real person and his
experiments with electricity.

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 Narrative Nonfiction

On that famous night, Benjamin Franklin

held a kite with a metal rod about a foot
long placed on top of it. Benjamin Franklin
believed that this rod
would catch lightning.
He tied a metal key to
the string of the kite. If
his theory was right, the
electricity would travel to
the key.
Benjamin Franklin
took the kite to an open
field. When the wind
started to blow, he let the
kite fly. He watched the
kite and waited. Benjamin
Franklin was starting to
get tired and he began
to think that his plan was not going to work.
Then he noticed that some loose bits of kite
string were standing very straight. It was
working! He touched the key with the back
of his hand and felt a shock. Electricity had
passed from the cloud to the kite to the key.

Let´s
Think! • What is the topic of this selection?
What do you think is the main idea of
that topic?

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Narrative Nonfiction

This was not the end of Benjamin

Franklin’s tests of electricity. He turned
his house into a laboratory by putting
lightning bells in place. The bells rang
when lightning was nearby.
Benjamin Franklin fixed a tall metal
rod on his roof to attract the lightning.
The rod would attract the electric
current in the air and travel through a
wire in his home. Small bells and brass
balls hung from the wire. When clouds
passed with electricity in them, the balls
would strike the bells, the bells would
ring, and a flash of electricity would
travel between them.
From his experiments with the
lightning bells, Benjamin Franklin
hoped to show that placing a lightning
rod on the roof of a building might
save it from damage. If the lightning
rod would attract lightning for
Benjamin Franklin’s experiments, then
the rod could also redirect lightning
away from buildings.

Let´s • Based on the facts and details you’ve

Think!
• What facts and details from the page
read so far, what kind of person do you
support the main idea?
think Benjamin Franklin was? Support
your answer with evidence from the text.

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 Narrative Nonfiction

At first, many people were interested in

Benjamin Franklin’s discoveries. But they did
not stay interested for a long time. To most
people, watching his tests was like watching
a show. The sparks, lights, and bells were fun
to look at, but people didn’t understand why
electricity was important. With time, people
began to pay more attention to ideas about
electricity and how it may benefit their lives.

Before Benjamin Franklin and his kite,

people knew very little about lightning
and electricity. Benjamin Franklin took
something found in nature, electricity, and
explored everything about it. Today, every
time we turn on a light, we know that
Benjamin Franklin’s ideas about electricity
were right.

Let´s • What happens in the beginning, middle, do you think he would ask? Support your

Think!
and end of this selection? answer with evidence from the story.

• Reading Across Texts  What are a
few of the ways that Charlie McButton
used electricity? If Charlie could talk to
Benjamin Franklin about electricity, what
• Writing Across Texts  Pretend you
are Charlie. Write a letter to Benjamin
Franklin telling him what you think of his
experiments with electricity.
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