How They Croaked: The Awful Ends of the Awfully Famous

 Bragg, G., & O'Malley, K. (2011). How They Croaked: The Awful Ends of the Awfully Famous. New York, NY: Walker &.

This humorous-informational tale is chalk full of how the famous historical figures of our history ended up dying and what happened to their bodies after many years. For example, Julius Caesar was a hard ruling dictator who many in the Roman Senate didn't like and wanted Julius dead. Julius was a superstitious man and was given a warning by a fortune-teller who warned him to "Beware the ides of March." Julius took the warning very serious and he would have stayed home if it weren't for his friend and fellow Senate member, Brutus, who convinced him to come to the Senate meeting. At this meeting Julius realized that his own friend betrayed him and he slowly was stabbed to death. Eventually, all the Senate representatives were killed a year after Julius Caesar's death. The rest of the book covers other deaths like Edgar Allan Poe's, Cleopatra, Albert Einstein, and more.

The way the author, Georgia Bragg, wrote these historic deaths in a amusing and informative way. In truth, our history books do not go into details about why these people  died and what caused their death's. Not only does she provide the cause of death but she also tells the readers what happens to the person's family and things they left behind. She also describes the leading cause of death during that person's era. It seemed like lead poisoning and gout caused many deaths, and the occasional beheading. The story also has a comic like illustrations which adds to the stories tone and over theme. I believe young readers will enjoy this creepy-informative book. I know I enjoyed the illustrations of each of the famous figures and their story.