Horrible Histories is a series of illustrated history books published in the United Kingdom by Scholastic, and part of the Horrible Histories franchise. They are designed to engage children in history by presenting the unusual, gory, or unpleasant aspects in a tongue-in-cheek manner in contrast to the formality of lessons taught in school. The series has proved exceptionally successful in terms of commercial revenue. The books are written by Terry Deary, Peter Hepplewhite and Neil Tonge and illustrated by Martin Brown, Mike Phillips and Philip Reeve.
The first titles in the series, The Terrible Tudors and The Awesome Egyptians, were published in June 1993. As of 2011 with more than 60 titles in the series, the books have sold over 25 million copies in over 30 languages. The books have had tie-ins with newspapers such as The Telegraph, as well as audio-book tie-ins with breakfast cereals.
Read more about Horrible Histories: Development, Approach, Other Languages, Brainiest Boffin Contest, Tours and Exhibitions, Reception, Awards, Spin-offs
Famous quotes containing the words horrible and/or histories:
“You never see animals going through the absurd and often horrible fooleries of magic and religion.... Dogs do not ritually urinate in the hope of persuading heaven to do the same and send down rain. Asses do not bray a liturgy to cloudless skies. Nor do cats attempt, by abstinence from cat’s meat, to wheedle the feline spirits into benevolence. Only man behaves with such gratuitous folly. It is the price he has to pay for being intelligent but not, as yet, quite intelligent enough.”
—Aldous Huxley (1894–1963)
“I read, with a kind of hopeless envy, histories and legends of people of our craft who “do not write for money.” It must be a pleasant experience to be able to cultivate so delicate a class of motives for the privilege of doing one’s best to express one’s thoughts to people who care for them. Personally, I have yet to breathe the ether of such a transcendent sphere. I am proud to say that I have always been a working woman, and always had to be ...”
—Elizabeth Stuart Phelps (1844–1911)