Things to Read - The "You Wouldn't Want to Be" Series

Lately all three of my kids are super into the "you wouldn't want to be" book series. T, in particular, can't get enough of You Wouldn't Want to Be a Pirate's Prisoner!: Horrible Things You'd Rather Not Know (You Wouldn't Want to...), which is pretty gruesome (hanging with rats in the ship's hold, tied to the deck for days at the time, disease, and (finally) being marooned on an empty island. The girls, on the other hand, keep reading You Wouldn't Want to Be an American Pioneer!: A Wilderness You'd Rather Not Tame, which tells a much more gruesome story than the Little House books.

I think kids like them because of the gore (well, of course because of the gore), but the books also contain lots of random facts and funny illustrations. The weapons, in particular, fascinate T; whereas F prefers the "handy hints" on every page that coach on the ways of survival.

I enjoy the series because the books put a personal face on history. (I've also learned that I sort of would like to be a ninja warrior, but that's a whole other story).