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Horrible Histories Gory Stories
Shadow of the Gallows
When a boy called Bairn is rescued from his dangerous job as an Edinburgh chimney sweep, he appears to have landed on his feet. But his new job proves just as dangerous and he soon becomes caught up in a plot to kill Queen Victoria. Has he been saved from slavery only to end up swinging at the gallows? Find out in this Vile Victorian adventure, it's got all the gore and so much more.
160 pages, Paperback
First published July 7, 2008
2 people are currently reading
63 people want to read
About the author
Terry Deary
828 books834 followersA former actor, theatre-director and drama teacher, Deary says he began writing when he was 29. Most famously, he is one of the authors of the Horrible Histories series of books popular among children for their disgusting details, gory information and humorous pictures and among adults for getting children interested in history. Books in the series have been widely translated into other languages and imitated.
A cartoon series has been made of the series of books and was shown on CiTV for a period in 2002.
The first series of a live-action comedy sketch show of the same name was shown on CBBC in 2009 and a second series is due.
Terry is also known widely throughout children and adult reading groups alike for his True Stories series (see below for series list).
He received an Honorary Doctorate of Education from the University of Sunderland in 2000. His numerous accolades also include the Blue Peter "Best Nonfiction Author of the Century" Award in the U.K.
-Wikipedia
A cartoon series has been made of the series of books and was shown on CiTV for a period in 2002.
The first series of a live-action comedy sketch show of the same name was shown on CBBC in 2009 and a second series is due.
Terry is also known widely throughout children and adult reading groups alike for his True Stories series (see below for series list).
He received an Honorary Doctorate of Education from the University of Sunderland in 2000. His numerous accolades also include the Blue Peter "Best Nonfiction Author of the Century" Award in the U.K.
-Wikipedia
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Displaying 1 of 1 review
September 4, 2013
The 'Horrible Histories' series consisted only of non-fiction books when I started reading them in primary school. In the twenty years since, their repertoire has expanded and Scholastic and now publish novels to go alongside their original range (which I can also wholeheartedly recommend!)
The strapline for Horrible Histories has always been "History with the nasty bits left in" and this book certainly delivers on that! Our hero is Bairn, and we first meet him when he's barely days old. His mother is engaged to a high-born gentleman and needs to get rid of her out-of-wedlock child before her fiancé finds out about it. Kitty Bruce is a baby farmer - a woman who takes in children from women who can't raise them...but for a hefty fee. Bairn's life gets a lot worse before it gets better. Before he's ten years old, he's sent up chimneys as a sweep, sold to a criminal gang as an Artful Dodger-esque thief and swept up in a Fenian plot to kill Queen Victoria!
In classic children's book style, the 'goodies' are good and the 'baddies' are horrible - and there aren't that many goodies. Even if you're an adult, you'll find yourself mentally booing as a character steps into a scene, or sighing with relief as Bairn escapes by the skin of his teeth yet again. The story rips along at a good pace and the descriptions are rich and detailed; you'll really get the feel of what Victorian cities were like, from the pollution and poverty of the lower classes to the privilege and comfort of the upper crust.
Terry Deary has a great way of weaving facts into a fiction story in a way which flows naturally and smoothly; the reader never feels as if they're being lectured by the author. He also uses a number of devices that will be familiar to readers of non-fiction Horrible Histories to add extra interesting and relevant information that doesn't fit into the story as naturally. Information boxes occasionally appear between paragraphs, as do author's notes, which are often posed as questions - eg:
"Often, children like Bairn would have had to live on thin vegetable broth. They were lucky even to get bread! Can you imagine looking forward to spinach soup?"
This informative/reflective approach is an excellent tactic to use with younger readers and really encourages them to empathise with and understand how poor children of this era were forced to live.
Because of the deliberately educational nature of this book, it has multiple uses within the KS2 school framework. For a year 3 class, it would work well as a 'storytime' book; it could be difficult to read for a child of that age, but accessible if read to them - especially with the ability to respond to and discuss the author's questions as a class. In year 4, it could serve as a group reading book or as individual home reading for more confident readers. As it's set in the Victorian era, it fits well with the curriculum of Year 5 history and would be a great home reading book if given at the beginning of the Victorians curriculum unit.
The strapline for Horrible Histories has always been "History with the nasty bits left in" and this book certainly delivers on that! Our hero is Bairn, and we first meet him when he's barely days old. His mother is engaged to a high-born gentleman and needs to get rid of her out-of-wedlock child before her fiancé finds out about it. Kitty Bruce is a baby farmer - a woman who takes in children from women who can't raise them...but for a hefty fee. Bairn's life gets a lot worse before it gets better. Before he's ten years old, he's sent up chimneys as a sweep, sold to a criminal gang as an Artful Dodger-esque thief and swept up in a Fenian plot to kill Queen Victoria!
In classic children's book style, the 'goodies' are good and the 'baddies' are horrible - and there aren't that many goodies. Even if you're an adult, you'll find yourself mentally booing as a character steps into a scene, or sighing with relief as Bairn escapes by the skin of his teeth yet again. The story rips along at a good pace and the descriptions are rich and detailed; you'll really get the feel of what Victorian cities were like, from the pollution and poverty of the lower classes to the privilege and comfort of the upper crust.
Terry Deary has a great way of weaving facts into a fiction story in a way which flows naturally and smoothly; the reader never feels as if they're being lectured by the author. He also uses a number of devices that will be familiar to readers of non-fiction Horrible Histories to add extra interesting and relevant information that doesn't fit into the story as naturally. Information boxes occasionally appear between paragraphs, as do author's notes, which are often posed as questions - eg:
"Often, children like Bairn would have had to live on thin vegetable broth. They were lucky even to get bread! Can you imagine looking forward to spinach soup?"
This informative/reflective approach is an excellent tactic to use with younger readers and really encourages them to empathise with and understand how poor children of this era were forced to live.
Because of the deliberately educational nature of this book, it has multiple uses within the KS2 school framework. For a year 3 class, it would work well as a 'storytime' book; it could be difficult to read for a child of that age, but accessible if read to them - especially with the ability to respond to and discuss the author's questions as a class. In year 4, it could serve as a group reading book or as individual home reading for more confident readers. As it's set in the Victorian era, it fits well with the curriculum of Year 5 history and would be a great home reading book if given at the beginning of the Victorians curriculum unit.
Displaying 1 of 1 review