Reading collection
Inventions Reading Passages
Discover more readings about inventors and their ideas.
January 17 reading ideas
Finding reading ideas for this date…
Finding reading ideas for this date…
Explore Benjamin Franklin’s ideas, follow a young inventor testing a design, and read about Muhammad Ali’s life inside and outside the boxing ring.
Special date
Benjamin Franklin was born on January 17, 1706. Read about his life as a printer, inventor, and citizen, then explore readings about his spectacles and his “Join, or Die” cartoon.
4 reading resources
Discover more readings about inventors and their ideas.
Explore a design for spectacles associated with Franklin.
Read passageExamine Franklin’s “Join, or Die” cartoon and its message.
Read passageRead an overview of Franklin’s work as a printer, inventor, and citizen on his birthday.
Read passageSpecial date
Celebrate young inventors with stories about trying out ideas, solving problems, and improving a design.
5 reading resources
Explore this topic through The Giggle Machine!.
Read passageUse Inventing Fun: Inside a Toy Designer's Workshop as related background or for comparison.
Read passageFollow Rosie as she builds and tests a flying car.
Read passageSee how Maya tests and improves a machine for sorting seeds.
Read passageAlready shown above: Inventions Reading Passages.
Special date
Muhammad Ali was born on January 17, 1942, in Louisville, Kentucky. Explore his life inside and outside the boxing ring.
Put two moments in Ali’s life in order and explain why one mattered.
Read passageYour topic. Your level.
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Give readers three different tasks. Find a detail that shows how Franklin communicated an idea, explain how a young inventor improved a design, and put two events from Ali’s life in order.
