REVIEW: How They Croaked: The Awful Ends of the Awfully Famous

   

Rating: 4/5 Stars
Audience: Middle School
Genre: Juvenile Non-Fiction


Summary: Ever wonder how some of the most famous people in history really died?  This book offers an answer.  Among the people profiled are Julius Caesar, Cleopatra, Marie Curie, Henry VIII, just to name a few.  For example, did you know that Cleopatra really died from a poised hairpin, not an asp as legend tells.  Did you also know that Edgar Allen Poe may have perished from rabies and not alcohol poisoning as alleged? Interspersed between the profiles of the deaths of the famous are interesting factoids about disease, death, and historic trivia.   If you do not like gore or gross tales do not read this book.  

Lucinda's Views:   I really enjoyed this book and read it in under an hour.  It is a quick, interesting read, which captures the reader's interest from the start to the finish.  The interspersed factoids and trivia serve to enlighten the reader and do not detract from the book's content at all. Rather, they add just a dash of fun to an already spicy topic.  A good pick for both reluctant readers and fans of the macabre!