Young Adult Non Fiction: How They Croaked Plus Group Discussion

Hello again, my lovely readers!

A key component to education and to the reading curriculum of young adults is non fiction.  Non fiction material can range from the funny and gross (which is what I read for this post) to the serious and grim.  There are a few challenges in non fiction, especially for teens.  It needs to be both engaging and factual, and somehow it has to hold the attention of someone who may or may not have the focus of a goldfish.  The key with young adults is to get them reading what they are interested in, be it space, dinosaurs, fashion, etc. and use it as a launch point into other non fiction material.

(If you are looking for some ideas for non fiction for YA readers, Goodreads has a pretty great list here.  A lot of these look really interesting, and can be a great way to get YA readers involved.)

For the non fiction selection, I chose to read How They Croaked: The Awful Ends of the Awfully Famous by Georgia Bragg and Kevin O'Malley.  The book is filled with bios of famous people ranging from Mozart to Washington with facts about the time periods, practices, and other random bits and pieces.  The book also has a lot of really funny drawings throughout as well.

I loved it.  This is exactly the kind of book I was reading when I was in like 5th grade - the weird, gross out fact book was my preference of choice.  I love how How They Croaked was humorous throughout, especially with some of the more gory deaths.   I think by keeping the tone light it kept it from getting too dark.  The facts were really neat, too; I had no idea Mozart died from strep throat.  Overall, I  think anyone in upper elementary through middle school will probably enjoy it.

In our group, we came up with a list of things we learned from How They Croaked, and if this list doesn't entice you into reading it, I don't know what else will:

1. Doctors could be just as lethal as the illnesses they were treating.
2. Thank God for antibiotics.
3. Always let someone know that you've died.
4. One of the leading causes of death is science.
5. Always do what you love, even if it kills you.

Again, a really great book.

~Meaghan