Writers And Their Tall Tales

Dead Famous

by Tracey Turner, Clive Goddard (Illustrator)

You've probably heard of a few William Shakespeare and his popular plays; Jane Austen and her love stories; and, Charles Dickens and his big blockbusters. But have you heard William Shakespeare got mixed up in a plot against the Queen? Jane Austen nearly became a Bigg-Wither? Charles Dickens had his clothes ripped off by his fans? Yes, even when they're dead writers are still full of surprises - and the eight in this book are more surprising than most. Now you can get the inside story from their secret diaries, flick through "Good Day!" magazine for some nineteenth-century gossip, and find out all about the writers whose tall tales have changed the world.

Genres: Nonfiction, Childrens, Historical, History, Biography

192 pages, Paperback

First published June 17, 2005

About the author

Tracey Turner is a former editor and author of many non-fiction books for children, including Hodder's Disgusting Dictionary and titles for the Dead Famous series. Tracey lives in South London.

Reviews

[Ahtims · Rating 4 out of 5]

A funny, comprehensive biography on 10 major British authors of the 19th and 20th century, most of whom I had read, and all of whom I knew about. I loved this vicarious peek into the long gone lives and the circumstances under which they wrote their masterpieces, and moreover the liberal,cartoons and personal diary scripts. My favorites were Jane Austen and the Bronte sisters, and I was also impressed by Charles Dickens. The others were James Joyce, Thomas hardy, George Orwell, etc.

[Rama Sundar Challa · Rating 4 out of 5]

The book is a collection of “biographies in short” of a few popular dead famous writers. Each chapter starts with the details of the birth of the writer and goes along with the situations they faced, hardships they might overcome, their love life and children and finally ends up with the brilliant bookshelves of them.

[Dominika Stará · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was actually surprised how little I know for example about Shakespeare (did you know he was born and died the same day?;) and also about other very well known and important writers. It is a book written for kids but it is genuinly fun to read it with all these hidden jokes (sometimes quite brutal for kids I would say). However I enjoy this quick smart lecture about different writers from different centuries and honestly my new “want to read” is from Bronte sisters. Thanks!

[Ettelwen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Děsivky mě v dětství hodně minuly, takže si to budu vynahrazovat :D
Tyto sice nemají tak silnou humornou základnu jako ty od Dearyho, ale aspoň tu odpadlo to zamyšlením se nad tím, jestli jako fakt a nebo jestli jako fakt ne.
Takže pokud se chcete dozvědět základní info o autorech jako jsou Jane Austenová, Wilde, Shakespeare, Orwell nebo třeba Joyce trošku jinou formou, proč ne? Já se bavila :)

[Jane Rain · Rating 5 out of 5]

Zajímavý a stručný souhrn života a děl známých britských spisovatelů jako Jane Austen, George Orwell, Shakespeare a další. Pokud se chystáte na maturitu, určitě vám knížka pomůže zapamatovat si jednotlivé spisovatele.

[Carolineandherbook · Rating 4 out of 5]

Super knížečka o spisovatelích pro děti starší 9 let, ale i pro rodiče nebo mládež, kteří se chtějí něco nečekaného dozvědět vtipným způsobem.😊
HODNOCENÍ: 80%

[Gina · Rating 4 out of 5]

I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book in its simple language and funny storytelling approach. It was good to know what other famous writers' lives were during their era.

[Michael P. · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fun and cartoony illustrated YA introduction to nearly a dozen of England's most respected writers.

[Anirudh · Rating 4 out of 5]

When I was young, I used to be love the publications, Dead Famous and Horrible Histories, both of them being from Scholastic. While I have already reviewed a few books from Horrible Histories, this is the first one from Dead Famous (though, not the first that I've read from the series). So, the basis of a Dead Famous book is, it features a personality who is famous and dead; so yeah, in this case, the phrase actually carries the literal meaning.

This book is on the life of ten great writers, whom we're all likely to have heard of, regardless of whether we've read their books or not. The authors are Chaucer, Shakespeare, Austen, Bronte Sisters, Dickens, Joyce, Hardy and Orwell. I've heard of each one of them, though, read books of only two of these authors (being Shakespeare and Orwell) and the reviews I have given on those books aren't particularly pleasant but my review shall focus on the book rather than the authors.

I really had the way she had it structured, it was chronological, we all love referring to the olde English as Chaucer's English and hence, starts with Chaucer. This book not only focuses on their life, but also on how their ideas emerged, what brought them to writing and the most interesting aspect of the whole book is, she brought out the rough history of the era in which the authors lived, through the book. So, this book will not only provide knowledge on these authors, but also on a lot of history and also, one could easily see how the society changed over the respective periods in which the authors lived.

The only possible negative that I found is something pervasive across this series, be it Horrible Histories or Dead Famous, being the focus on the British Isles (I'd have just said Britain if not for James Joyce), and here, all the ten authors are from the same region; a bit of diversity could've definitely added flavour to the book. Also, it could have been better if there had been one woman author from the modern era, who didn't face much societal stereotype unlike Jane Austen or Bronte sisters, such as Agatha Christie or perhaps, Virginia Woolf.

On the whole, this was an excellent read, I always love these books because it is not too difficult to read and at the same time, it is highly informative, especially this particular book, which had many facets to it, other than being a biography of the individual authors. So, I'd give the book a rating of four.

[Codee Cheung · Rating 5 out of 5]

I think this book is very interesting and gives great book recommendations from the authors mentioned in the book.

[Stephanie]

It's quite interesting, and includes information about many famous authors including Roald Dahl, and Jane Austin, etc..

[Andrea Černíková · Rating 3 out of 5]

When I was younger i loved Horrible Histories books and read them all. This is extension to the world of literature and is still very fresh and funny read.

[Guguk · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hip..hip..huraaah~ for writers!! ╰(*´︶`*)╯♥

I like all the pictures in this book, especially the Animal Farm's cartoon (^^)

[Lady Grey · Rating 4 out of 5]

4 *

[Indah Threez Lestari · Rating 4 out of 5]

398 - 2016

[Michelle Ng · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is very interesting with lots of fun facts too! :D