Title: Rotten Rulers
Author: Terry Deary
Type: Non-Fiction
Page Count: 176
Rating: 4/5
I actually learned a surprising amount from this book. For example, in the AD 900s, the grand vizier of Persia travelled with a library of 117,000 books carried by camels that were trained to walk in alphabetical order. Although he also said that the earth is flat, which I’m hoping was a joke but which either way is a dangerous one to make, especially when educating kids.
So basically, the main vibe that I was left with here was that there were a lot of cool facts and information that would definitely keep a kid entertained, but at the same time I’m not too sure how much we can trust it. It’s a shame, because I’ve always found the information to be spot on in Horrible History books before.
Mostly, though, it’s just a timely reminder that power corrupts and that people are terrible. After all, there are quite a few rotten rulers still knocking around today. Sinister.
