How They Croaked: The Awful Ends of the Awfully Famous
Bragg, G. (2011). How
they croaked: The awful ends of the awfully famous. New York, NY: Walker
& Company.
For all the fans of Ripley's Believe it or Not! and all things morbid and gross, this book is for you! If you have ever wanted to know how people like Julius Caesar, Christopher Columbus, Galileo, or even Edgar Allen Poe died, this book spares no gruesome details. Kids will be fascinated with facts they can use to gross out their friends as well as thankful that we now have the modern medicine that we do to prevent so many horrible deaths these people suffered. Each chapter is devoted to a famous person, gives some background as to why they are famous, and then describes the excruciatingly painful illnesses and injuries that cause their deaths. At the end of each chapter, there are extra facts about things like autopsies, bloodletting, lead poisoning, and leeching. The campy illustrations only add to the overall effect and keep things light yet darkly humorous.
I would recommend this to older kids with a morbid fascination with death and gross facts. Some kids will shy away and not have any care as to know why and how people die, but for those that do, this book is great.
Author interview on NPR:
Georgia Bragg's website (including a book trailer and fan videos):
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