Awful Good Book

I found this book at the library Monday (All Hail The Library!).
Amazing Information!
Amazing Illustrations! 
I read it in one day.
Could not put it down.
It was a "the dog needed to go out, the kids drew on the walls, I forgot to pee" kind of book.
It's a bit macabre and that's why I liked it.
I actually found it on the children's floor of the biblioteca.
Its all about famous people of yore and how they died.
We all know about these people's accomplishments in history.
What we may not know is the history of their demise.


Zoe and I read about King Tut when we got home (the kid has a strange obsession with all things Egyptian including mummies) and she declared "yes, I just saw all of this on TV!".
I told you it was an obsession.
We then read about Cleopatra.
It was not an asp.


I told her some of the other names from the contents page...Caesar, Pocahontas, Einstein, Columbus, Poe.
She REALLY wanted to hear about Pocahontas.
She likes the Disney Princesses and connects with the Disney Pocahontas a lot and I told her she may not like what happened to her.
She said "read it.".
So I did.
And her face just fell.
Into despair and sadness.
For a princess who was tortured and used and dang, it was just sad.
But, as it is, Zoe knows that life is not always fair and that struggles happen to everyone.
Including Princesses.

I would have to say that my favorite "awful demise" was about the 20th President of the U.S.
As the page in the book say "James Who?!"

U.S. President James A. Garfield.
Poor guy.
I read an extraordinary account of an awful death of one of our Presidents.
I like U.S. history.
A lot.
So it was really neat (should I say that?) to read about something tragic that happened to a President we don't know much about.
It could get me far on Jeopardy.
I need to audition.
I hope there's no math.

So, if you like to peruse the library or bookstore like I do and have a thing for interesting stories about real life events, I highly recommend this awfully good book.
Just forewarn your loved ones that they may not like what they hear about Henry the VIII.
He loved headless wives the most and he smelled like a sewer.
Enjoy!

How They Croaked - The Awful Ends of the Awfully Famous
Text by Georgia Bragg
Illustrated by Kevin O'Malley
I do not know the author or illustrator, but just liked this book and wanted to share.