American
Benjamin Franklin and the Kite in the Storm
Nobody knew for certain what lightning was, so Benjamin Franklin flew a kite with a key up toward a thundercloud to find out.
This Week · Curiosity
Curiosity — what's something you've always wondered about?
For littler ones: What's something you really, really want to find out?
Some questions have a neat answer waiting at the end. The best ones don't — they just keep opening doors. This week we're sitting with the itch that makes a kid ask "but why? but how?" and won't let go: the wondering that sends someone out into a thunderstorm with a kite, or makes a hand reach for the water at a pump. It's a good thing to ask each other in the car, with no tidy answer required: what's something you've always wondered about?
This week's stories
Classics
Goldilocks and the Three Bears
A girl walks into an empty cottage and tries every bowl, every chair, every bed to find which one is just right — curiosity and trespassing can look an awful lot alike.
American
Helen Keller Learns to Read
Deaf and blind since before her second birthday, Helen Keller lived in a silent dark until her teacher spelled W-A-T-E-R into her palm at the pump and she understood, for the first time, that everything has a name.
Talk about it
- What's something you've always wondered about — and never found out?
- If you could find out the answer to any one question in the whole world, what would you ask?
- Has wanting to know something ever gotten you into a little bit of trouble?
A new question every week.
Listen together in the app — short audio stories for kids 4–10, at bedtime, on the drive, in the drop-off line.
Join the family
Get the stories that built America in your inbox
New stories, the weekly Almanac, and family read-aloud picks. No spam — unsubscribe anytime.