You Wouldn t Want to Climb Mount Everest!

The You Wouldn’t Want To . . . series has long been taking the stuffing out of both relatively glamorous personages (Cleopatra) and obviously doomed career choices (Salem witch). A bit of reverse psychology here and loads of irresistible historical details there combine with cartoony visuals and glib humor to make these titles plenty educational but just plain fun to read as well. In You Wouldn’t Want to Climb Mount Everest! readers join John Hunt’s 1953 expedition during which Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay made the first successful summit. The dangers associated with climbing up to the top of the world are well outlined and only add to the thrill of making it to the peak. A few design tweaks, such as boxing and ordering some of the many blocks of texts competing for attention, would help the pages seem less cluttered, but these books are great treats to reward historically inquisitive minds. Grades 3-5. --Ian Chipman