First settled in the 1600s, the present-day village of Franklin Square developed as a German-speaking farming community in the late 1800s. The fertile farmland of Franklin Square supplied New York City with all types of fresh produce into the mid-20th century, when waves of suburban growth transformed fields into residential neighborhoods. Franklin Square's rich history exemplifies the larger trends in America's history. George Washington visited in 1790, and the poet Walt Whitman taught in the local school in 1840. The Franklin Square National Bank invented a new type of walk-up window as well as the bank credit card, eventually becoming the 18th-largest bank in the United States. A native son orbited the earth on the space shuttle.

A funny, entertaining introduction to Ben Franklin and his many inventions, including the story of how he created the "magic square." A magic square is a box of nine numbers arranged so that any line of three numbers adds up to the same number, including on the diagonal! Teachers and kids will love finding out about this popular teaching tool that is still used in elementary schools today!

Hidden in Plain Sight tells the tragic untold story of children's rights in America. It asks why the United States today, alone among nations, rejects the most universally embraced human-rights document in history, the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child. This book is a call to arms for America to again be a leader in human rights, and to join the rest of the civilized world in recognizing that the thirst for justice is not for adults alone. Barbara Bennett Woodhouse explores the meaning of children's rights throughout American history, interweaving the childhood stories of iconic figures such as Benjamin Franklin with those of children less known but no less courageous, like the heroic youngsters who marched for civil rights. How did America become a place where twelve-year-old Lionel Tate could be sentenced to life in prison without parole for the 1999 death of a young playmate? In answering questions like this, Woodhouse challenges those who misguidedly believe that America's children already have more rights than they need, or that children's rights pose a threat to parental autonomy or family values. She reveals why fundamental human rights and principles of dignity, equality, privacy, protection, and voice are essential to a child's journey into adulthood, and why understanding rights for children leads to a better understanding of human rights for all. Compassionate, wise, and deeply moving, Hidden in Plain Sight will force an examination of our national resistance--and moral responsibility--to recognize children's rights.

Harry is an unsuccessful clerk, a wife beater, an oddball who disagrees with everybody, and he's possessed with the idea of moving out of his basement apartment and into his father-in-law's home. He plans to kill his father-in-law, his wife, and let their kid live. His wife will inherit the home; he'll take it away from her. His wife Wanda is a patient woman. She tries to get along with her husband, knowing her father and mother hate him, deeply regret her marriage. She doesn't know her father is searching for someone to kill Harry. Wanda's father, Frank Giordano, and husband Harry focus on Cherry Killgallon as a hit man. Cherry spent twenty years in prison for killing his adopted parents. He stabbed them while under the influence of a drug given to him by Harry. In prison, Cherry realized Harry was no friend, ignored him when he was in trouble. Cherry planned to kill Harry, but an elderly black man changed his mind. He'd stay out of trouble. That proved difficult, as an ex-convict, he couldn't locate work. Eventually, two opportunities came to him: One from Harry, the other from Frank. He didn't want to kill anyone, but he needed money. Cherry decides to kill Harry when he met Cathy, a beer barrel delivered and a heavy girl from Ireland. The conflict between Cherry and his conscience, the fight between Harry and Frank Giordano, and the wisdom displayed by Wanda, is the story of Franklin Square.