John, Paul, George & Ben

John, Paul, George & Ben

Author	Lane Smith
Cover artist	Lane Smith
Language	English
Subject	The Founding Fathers
Genre	United States history
Publisher	Hyperion Books
Publication date	2006
Publication place	United States
Pages	40
ISBN	978-0-7868-4893-5
OCLC	61821924
Dewey Decimal	[E] 22
LC Class	PZ7.S6538 Jo 2006

John, Paul, George & Ben is a children's picture book written and illustrated by American illustrator Lane Smith. Released in 2006 through Hyperion Books, it tells the story of five of the Founding Fathers of American independence: John Hancock, Paul Revere, George Washington, Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Jefferson. The book describes each of them to be independent, bold, honest, clever, or noisy. The name of the book is a parody of the names of the members of the British band The Beatles; John, Paul, George and Ringo, with Ben replacing Ringo. It was awarded the Zena Sutherland Award for best overall book by the University of Chicago Laboratory Schools.

Awards

It also received the following awards and recognitions: Horn Book Fanfare Award, Book Sense Summer Children's Pick, School Library Journal Best Books of 2006, New York Times Best Illustrated Book of the Year, Quills Award Nominee, Child Magazine Best Book of the Year, Oppenheim Toy Portfolio Platinum Book Award Winner, Publishers Weekly Best Book of the Year, National Parenting Publication Gold Award Winner, Parenting Magazine Best Book of the Year, New York Times Notable Book, The Columbus Dispatch Top 20, New York Daily News Best Of list, San Francisco Chronicle Year End Picks, NYPL 100 Titles for Reading and Sharing, New York Bookbinders Design Merit Award, St. Louis Post Dispatch Best Book, 2006 Blue Ribbon Book from the Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books, Miami Herald Best Book, and Chicago Public Library Best of the Best.

It was a New York Times and Publishers Weekly bestseller.

Adaptations

In 2007, Weston Woods Studios adapted the book to an animated film narrated by James Earl Jones.