How They Choked: Failures, Flops, and Flaws of the Awfully Famous by Georgia Bragg Katie Vanko EDRL 524

How They Choked: Failures, Flops, and Flaws of the Awfully Famous by Georgia Bragg

Katie Vanko EDRL 524

This non-fiction book for young adults explores historical events and figures that “epically failed.”    Readers will learn more about these fantastically flawed humans, considering what they set out to do, and what really happened to them!  The book is a series of short texts set up like stories that present the events, people, and timelines in which the actions occurred.  The text is rigorous with academic vocabulary, but not overwhelming for students.  It is also chucked with subheadings to make information easier to find.  Readers in my own 8th grade classroom enjoy curling up with this book and learning about the mistakes made by people throughout history.  

The book shows readers that even famous names that we hear about throughout history classes have made significant errors.  The people mentioned in the innovative display of history include:  Marco Polo, Amelia Earhart, The Boleyn Sisters, Ferdinand Magellan,  Isaac Newton ,Benedict Arnold, Vincent Van Gogh, and even more!  The book would be an excellent part of a text set for students doing biographies of historical figures.

The book might be of interest to middle and high school students.  It is a text that a variety of students connect with, although some might struggle to understand pieces that require some historical background knowledge.  

I do recommend the book as an exciting alternative to a history textbook.  It is accurate, unique, and has clever comic like pictures that students really enjoy!