You Wouldn't Want to Be Sick in the 16th Century!: Diseases You'd Rather Not Catch

While much of the content is gross, it is factual. My children love reading about history in this format and retain most of the information after one reading. This book in the series follows a Barber Surgeon from apprenticeship to death, while learning about the different diseases, illnesses, and cures of the 16th century. If your child is squeamish, this isn't really a book for them since it does cover leeches, bloodletting, amputation, etc.

Humorous and sometimes really disgusting view of diseases and treatments in the Middle Ages that will surely delight boys ages 8-12. Yes, some of the treatments were truly awful, but the hilarious illustrations temper the grossest parts with humor.

We have several of the "You Wouldn't Want to..." series which we used to support our Medieval History as well as some science studies for school. The books are visually appealing for students of all ages with humorous and yes, gross artwork in abundance to illustrate the facts and fallacies presented. There's actually quite a bit of information provided within each title. My 13 year old son still enjoys reading these. The only reason I didn't give this [..]is because there are only 29 pages per book and I find the cost somewhat prohibitive.

This is the grossest book I have ever read and you get all the gross facts with it and this is a good book because you get gross facts. It tells you about the battlefield and how they almost never wash there blades, they were to be decorative not to cut off limbs. This kind of book is great for book shares. Try reading other books in this series and once you start, you can't stop.

This picturebook is aimed at primary elementary students, and shows the gory life of a 16th century medical staff. It has many yucky details, which the kids love, and is interesting for comparisons of how much the medicine advanced since that age. The facial expressions are real fun, especially all the teeth-clenching of patients faced with primitive medical tools (which seem to inflict more pain than cure).