The Smashing Saxons

Horrible Histories #8

by Terry Deary

"The Smashing Saxons" tells the terrible truth about the pillaging people who bashed the Brits but got nobbled by the Normans, including who got cow pats as Christmas presents or why wearing a pig on your head was lucky. Read on for foul facts on disgusting diseases and ghastly graves.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Childrens, Humor, Historical, British Literature, Medieval

128 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2000

About the author

A 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

Reviews

[Amy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Rating: 4 stars.

I remember loving the Horrible History books as a kid, and was glad to learn that at least this one still holds up!

You can instantly see why these were so popular with kids back in the day (and hopefully still now!), with Deary's wry, irreverent take successfully making history interesting to learn. As much credit goes to Brown's illustrations, which, beyond just being funny, are legitimately really well composed and drawn. It's definitely the combination of prose and art that stuck with me all these years.

The best kids books know the exact right amount of information and complexity to pitch to their audience, and that's where Smashing Saxons shines. Deary knows exactly when to inform and when to just grab a kid's attention back with a string of gross facts. He also doesn't rely on pop culture references, so the humour remains much more timeless.

All in all, a fun trip down memory lane.

[Chloe Reads Books]

As with all the HH books, I'm not rating them, but reading this was a fun experience.

[Riley · Rating 5 out of 5]

this still holds up.

[Amy Moore · Rating 4 out of 5]

Still just as good as I remembered it.

[Helene Harrison · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm thoroughly enjoying rereading these Horrible Histories books that I haven’t read in over a decade! There is plenty of information included that you might not find in more 'traditional' history books.

The cartoons are brilliant and still make me giggle even after all these years and Terry Deary's writing is still as engaging as it was all those years ago.

Even if you're an adult historian you will still enjoy reading these, whether reading them for the first time or rediscovering them!

[Owen John · Rating 2 out of 5]

I strongly disagree with what it says about Alfred the Great!

[Siobhan · Rating 4 out of 5]

As a child history was one of my favourite school subjects thus making Horrible Histories the perfect books for me.

Nowadays children have the television series yet I belong to the older group that had the books. Personally, I believe any child who has an interest in history should give these books a go. They’re truly gripping and so many topics are covered.

Honestly, Horrible Histories are well worth a read.

[Guguk · Rating 5 out of 5]

Aku sering kebolak-balik masa-masa Brit, Saxon, dan Norman (^///^;)> Kebolak-balik yang jaraknya ratusan taun~ abis, semuanya datang bertamu dan menetap di Inggris XD //alesan

Kalo dipikir & ditelusuri ke masa lalu, di dunia ini lama-lama ga ada yang bisa dibilang "penduduk asli" ya (^皿^)
Atau bisa dibilang, semuanya "penduduk asli planet bumi" ☆⌒(≧▽​° ) wkwkk~

[Lexie]

Jedna z moich ukochanych serii z dzieciństwa. Pełna humoru, sarkazmu autora i wielu interesujących, a często też obrzydliwych i drastycznych ciekawostek historycznych. Całość dopełniona wspaniałymi ilustracjami. I nawet czytając ponownie jako osoba dorosła, świetnie się bawiłam.

[pan · Rating 4 out of 5]

i do not have an attention span anymore. why did it take me such a long time to read a chilsrens book

[Rhys Causon · Rating 4 out of 5]

An enjoyable look at the Saxon age, though once again a pronunciation guide for names might have been necessary. I can make an educated guess… but with Saxon era names, who knows?

[Luke · Rating 5 out of 5]

Horrible Histories - History with all the nasty bits left in! The Smashing Saxons tells you the terrible truth about pillaging people who bashed the Brits but got nobbled by the Normans. Want to know: Who got cow pats as Christmas presents? Why wearing a pig on your head is lucky? How to make a dead Saxon happy?

it goes to show that when people in the UK say im British but when you look into the past you find that we are half viking and half Norman and roman we have a mix of the epic genes. when the Romans left because there empire was falling the country was up for the picking and the vikings who had been pushed back by the Romans invaded and pillaged. then the nomans travelled across the sea to the UK in search of new and better farming lands as it wasn't that good back home and with no army to really defend themselves with the people of Briton let the Normans set up shop. There was still some competition between the Scots and welsh but that didn't last long till the vikings came back we held them off for a while paying them money to go away that didn't work so the king sent his daughter to marry the viking king which still didn't stop them.

The viking still came back took over and we had a viking king ruling the UK. That's just a brief of the information that you are going to read about in this book and i might be a bit off with the information above so dont quote me on any of it i did read the book in one sitting. But thats just more reason for you to pick this book up and learn more about my home country's past and its horrible history.

5/5 stars on goodreads

100/100 Ginger points

[The Library Mouse Tales · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is packed with strange and disgusting facts about the SMASHING SAXONS, including who got cow pats as Christmas presents, why wearing a pig on your head was lucky and how to make a dead Saxon happy.

The text is clear and written in a way that children will find easy to understand. The book is broken down into lots of little sections and mini topics like superstitions, skills and Saxon cures. There are extra-horrible bits, letters, newspaper reports and mini quizzes to test your new knowledge.

Martin Brown has drawn brilliant black and white cartoons with funny speech bubbles that break up the text and show extra facts. I like to look at the colour pictures on the covers and the end papers too!

We have quite a few of the Horrible Histories books about all different periods in history. I think they are a fun way to learn about the past and pick up extra information for some of the topics we study at school. I also enjoy the TV programme based on the books.

Share this:

[Ryan]

This book is about a crazy empire called the Saxons. all you really did during the Saxons time is work pray, pray some more and work some more. But the monks and nuns enjoyed a little bit more than the other people. they believed that ghosts from the dead were gonna come and haunt them. During the dark ages the Saxons believed that demos and spirits were lerking to snatch your soul.

I think this book is ok because it is easy and hard at the same time. The book has a lot of pictures and little novels in it. The novels are about the Saxons and there living style. This book is not really my type of book but if you like history i think this book would be great for you. If you don't like history you might not like the book.

[Oliwia · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Smashing Saxon" offers a concise yet comprehensive exploration of the Saxon period in history. With a quick-paced narrative, it delves into the key events, figures, and cultural aspects of the era, providing a clear and engaging explanation of this pivotal time. The book adeptly captures the essence of the Saxon period, making it accessible to readers of all levels of familiarity with the subject matter.

3/10

[Teresa · Rating 3 out of 5]

Bedtime reading with the kid. Might be more entertaining for an older kid (5-7th grade) or a kid in the UK to read on their own, but my history-loving US-born third grader struggled with the colloquialisms, so I read it aloud and made adjustments for clarity as we went. He especially liked the quizzes. I'd consider another from the series in a year or two.

[Xanthi · Rating 3 out of 5]

I didn’t know much about the Saxons before reading this book. As usual, the text was engaging and the accompanying illustrations were fun to see - even most of the more gruesome ones. I have no qualms about being an adult and enjoying books written for children and young adults.

[Amy Lowry · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good book, really brought me back to when I was young and would watch horrible histories. Of course I was not the intended audience so that's why I didn't love it but it was still good even now that I am older.

[Samuel · Rating 5 out of 5]

ATOS Book Level: 5.6
Interest Level: Middle Years, Ages 9 to 13
AR Points: 3.0
Word Count: 20858
Fiction/Non-fiction Nonfiction

This book is very interesting and I learned about a lot of horrible facts. But I still like this book. It is awesome.

[Ningster · Rating 4 out of 5]

Don't judge the book by its cover! The stories are funny yet "horrible" making it easy to remember these interesting facts.

[John Naylor · Rating 4 out of 5]

An interesting addition to the series.
The history is sometimes doubtful but the humour is as good as any in the series.

[David · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not so important facts but interesting to read.

[Indah Threez Lestari · Rating 4 out of 5]

214 - 2019

[Isaac · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really funny book, with tons of detail that I didn’t know about the origin of England as we know it.

I look forward to continue reading the series

[Sarah Allen · Rating 5 out of 5]

10/10 would recommend to all 26 year old grown adults.

[A. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Simple but nice overview! Wish there were sources to look at more, but I mostly read it for childhood nostalgia reasons so I wasn’t expecting the world.

[Emily Kathleen]

Once again, no rating. This was, again, fun and I especially enjoyed the bits about Arthur like in the previous one. I’m enjoying reading them in chronological order too.

[Ollie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interstingly Disgusting Facts but Good to read

[Leiki Fae · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another great Horrible Histories book!

[Amy · Rating 3 out of 5]

*3.75