Skip to main content

How They Choked - Georgia Bragg & Kevin O'Malley

By
http://provo.ent.sirsi.net/client/pl/search/results?qu=how+they+choked&qf=PUBDATE%09Publication+Date%092013-2014%092013-2014&qf=AUTHOR%09Author%09Bragg%2C+Georgia.%09Bragg%2C+Georgia.

How They Choked: Failures, Flops, and Flaws of the Awfully Famous
by Georgia Bragg
Illustrated by Kevin O'Malley
Walker Books for Young Readers, 2014. 208 pages.

From the same author-illustrator team that brought us How They Croaked comes this book that focuses on the mistakes and mishaps of "awfully famous" people. The introduction warns "Nobody's perfect; get used to it". That warning is relevant as some of our favorite famous people, including Amelia Earhart and Charles Dickens, are portrayed in a more negative light than we are used to. While the negativity is somewhat depressing, I think it's valuable to realize that everyone makes mistakes and has flaws or shortcomings, sometimes within their control and sometimes not. The writing is absolutely captivating and the illustrations are delightfully macabre. There are gross details of death and sickness akin to How They Croaked, so this is not the book for the squeamish. Overall a fascinating and entertaining biographical collection.
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Stand Tall by Joan Bauer

By DeeDee
Stand Tall By Siena Siegel by Joan Bauer Putnam, 2002, 182 pgs Realistic Fiction Tree is 12 years old and over 6 feet tall. That would be great if he were a basketball player, but he is not. Dealing with his unusual size is not Tree's only challenge. Tree's parents have recently gone through a divorce, and his grandfather has had his leg amputated as the result of an old Vietnam War injury. The strength of this book is the characterizations. All of the main characters are dimensional and sympathetic. Bauer sets the characters in real and often funny family situations. Best of all is the character of Tree. He is boy with a heart to match his stature. This is a great book for boys or girls ages 9-12, as a read aloud or for individual reading. This book could also be a good Rx book for children whose families are going through divorce, or for anyone who feels like they don't fit in.
Post a Comment
Read more

Review: The New Girl

By
The New Girl By Cassandra Calin New York: Graphix, 2024. Comic. 261 pages. 12-year-old Lia and her family have just moved from Romania to Montreal, and she's doing her best to keep up with the changes. But, she's homesick. She misses the rest of her family, her friends, and her favorite Romanian treats. She doesn't speak French and her English is shaky, which makes it hard to make friends, even in her international immersion class. And she's dealing with super painful menstrual cramps every month. But before long, Lia starts to hit her stride. She befriends the other bilingual girls in her class, she gets a spot as the artist for her school's magazine, and even has a new crush -- Julien. Though she may be the new girl, Lia is starting to fit in. This slice of life graphic novel is an adorable choice for middle grade readers and young teens. Lia is a likable protagonist and readers will have little difficulty relating to her adjustment to school. The text speaks to a...
Post a Comment
Read more

Review: Cincinnati Lee, Curse Breaker

By
  Cincinnati Lee, Curse Breaker By Heidi Heilig New York: Greenwillow Books, 2025. Fiction. 291 pages. Thanks to Cincinnati Lee's no good, dirty rotten, artifact stealing great great great grandfather, Cincinnati's family is now cursed and Cincinnati feels like it's up to her to break the curse. Which involves trying to steal the artifacts back from museums that her grandfather robbed from graves and archeological sites around the world and return them to their countries of origin. But when Cincinnati's first artifact stealing mission goes awry, she decides it might be more effective to steal an all-powerful artifact herself that she can use to break the curse - The Spear of Destiny. Unfortunately her race for the spear will pit her against art smugglers and thieves intent on finding the ancient artifact themselves. If you are looking for an Indiana Jones read-alike, this is the perfect for you! Heavy on the adventure with similar levels of mysticism to those seen in th...
Post a Comment
Read more