How They Coraked: The Awful Ends to the Awfully Famous

Bibliographic Information: Bragg, G. (Author) & O'Malley, K. (Illustrator). (2011). How they croaked: The awful ends to the awfully famous. New York: Walker & Company.

Plot Summary:  How They Croaked explores the demise of nineteen famous people from history including King Tut, Pocahontas, Galileo Galilei, and Beethoven.  All of thier deaths have something in common- they were pretty nasty.  For instance, King Tut died from malaria, Julius Caesar was stabbed by a group of disgruntled senators suffering twenty-three stab wounds- only one of which was fatal, and Charles Dickens died of a stroke.  Preceeding the description of each individuals gruesome death, a little bit of their life history is explained.  It is interesting to note that medicine has come a long way in the last 100 years.  Many of their death would have been prevented with the medical advances we have now.  At the end of each celebrity’s chapter, and bit of trivia is given, for instance the end of King Tut’s chapter explains all the uses people had for mummies, like medicine, paper, and paint.  Thankfully these practices didn’t last long, as mummies aren’t the most sanitary objects lying around.

Critical Evaluation:   How They Croaked is a perfect read for anyone who enjoys reading gorey details about death.  Each entry is written in an objective point of view to recount the simple facts about nineteen celebrity deaths.  One common thread between many of these deaths is the irresponsible medical treatment many of them had, but it really isn’t their fault.  Medicine in the 1800s is not what it is today, so it was normal to drain blood from the body when it was thought a patient’s ailments originated from bad blood.  The history behind each tale is intriguing, and often not commonly known.  For instance, Cleopatra’s demise is reminiscent of the last scene in Romeo and Juliet, although many people believe she died from a snake bite.  The book does a good job dispelling rumors about the celebrity figures, and maintains a dry humorous tone at times.  The trivia facts at the end are informative and connect to the story in some way.  Overall, this is an informative compilation on death stories and kid would find interesting.

Reader’s Annotation: George Washington is famous in history as the first President of the United States, but did you know he died from an infection in his mouth?  Read How They Croaked: Awful Ends to the Awfully Famous to learn about other unglamorous endings of famous people from history.

Information about the authors: Georgia Bragg grew up in a family of artists, so her talent for printmaking, painting, and storyboarding were no surprise.  She’s had five different careers, never went to college, and wrote one other book titles Matisse on the Loose.  She has a husband, two children, two cats, and they live in L.A (Bragg, n.d.).

Kevin O’Malley’s first published book was Froggy Went A-Courting.   He is passionate about drawing and shares that passion on school tours where he talks about his career to young kids.  He is humorous and full of life, and shares some of his drawing talents on his blog (Coutrot, 2012).

Genre: Non Fiction, Biography

Curriculum Ties: History, Health

Booktalking ideas (one or two):

1. Ask group if they know how George Washington died.

2. Describe some of the medical techniques attempted to heal people.

Reading level/Interest age: 12+

Challenge Issues: The novel contains graphic descriptions of death.

To defend challenged material I would:

1.    Read/watch/listen to the material to become familiar with the content.

2.    Familiarize myself with the Arizona Common Core curriculum standards http://www.azed.gov/azcommoncore/teacher/ to defend how the material can support the learning of these standards.

3.    Refer to the Library Bill of Rights: http://www.ala.org/advocacy/intfreedom/librarybill

4.    Refer to the collection policy of my library.

5.    Collect reviews from staff/students/patrons who have used the material.

Why I chose this book:  I chose this book because it adds humor to my non-fiction collection.  It offers biographical facts about famous people from history, and is a quick read.  Young adult patrons who enjoy gruesome, gory details will love this book.

References:

Bragg, G. (n.d.). About. Georgia Bragg. Retrieve 6 May from

http://georgiabragg.com/aboutpage/.

Courtot, M. (2012, February 20). Kevin O’Malley. Children’s Literature Author and Illustrator

    Booking Service. Retrieved 6 May from

http://www.childrenslit.com/bookingservice/omalley-kevin.html#bio.