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

How They Choked: Failures, Flops, and Flaws of the Awfully Famous
Georgia Bragg
Illustrations by Kevin O'Malley

My rating: ★★½

ISBN: 9780802734884
Publisher: Walker Childrens
Date of publication: May 6, 2014
Age: Grades 5 - 9
Genre: Nonfiction

Themes: failure, historical figures, biographies, selfishness

Everyone makes mistakes, including those that are famous. Some of history's greatest figures have made horrible mistakes—some lead a lot of death and destruction, such as Montezuma II or General George Custer. Some failures turned into successes, such as Susan B. Anthony's fighting for a vote she never got—but then, eventually, others did. Included here are fourteen famous historical figures and their epic failures.

I can see the idea behind this book: that people make epic failures all the time, but it's how you handle it that determines your character. A moral lesson if you will—which is great, especially to teach to kids. But holy cow! This book came off rather negatively...it was depressing! It rambled in some places and seemed terribly biased in others (there may be some false claims in this book). It still had some funny parts, but not quite as enjoyable as her first book. It was hard for me to finish. I wish it was as good as her first.

I didn't review it here, but Bragg's first book, How They Croaked was a rather amazing book, a four-star for sure! If anything, you should read that one.

Find it at your library or on Amazon