Georgia Bragg wrote the popular How they croaked and How they choked history tidbit collections telling of famous deaths and failures. Both are frequent circulators in my library, especially 4th grade and up, and I was surprised and excited to find out I’d missed a new book in the same vein.

This is a mix of different historical characters, most, though not all, criminals, how they were caught, and what happened to them afterwards. The brief introduction, “Either way, they’re all famous” isn’t really true, since several are obscure, as even the text admits, but explains that they are all people who were “caught” doing something. The chapters average 10 pages long and each begins with the person’s name, birth, and death dates and ends with a spread or two of facts and stats about the person and their time period. It’s illustrated with black and white cartoons and includes a bibliography and index.

The people included are Joan of Arc, Sir Walter Raleigh, Caravaggio, Blackbeard, John Wilkes Booth, Jesse James, Billy the Kid, Mata Hari, Typhoid Mary, Rasputin, Vincenzo Peruggia, Bernard Otto Kuehn, Anna Anderson, and Al Capone.

I had mixed feelings after I read this. On the one hand, it’s not as funny as Bragg’s other books and the collection of people included isn’t really very organized. There’s not really much that Al Capone and Joan of Arc have in common! The “caught” theme is pretty loose and I think Bragg would have done better to continue her series and go with a more organized theme, like how criminals were caught or something. However, it is light and amusing to read, well-researched, and offers young readers a different viewpoint on people who they may have only heard briefly in passing, if ever.

Verdict: Buy where Georgia Bragg’s other books are popular.

ISBN: 9781524767419; Published September 2019 by Crown Pub; Purchased for the library

Rich in juicy details and written in a breezy, humorous style that younger teens will like a lot, this book depicts the lives of wanted people. Some have really high name recognition, while others are obscure but had an impact on history. There's a notorious soul in here for every reader and, in addition to the biographical narrative, there are timelines and further facts about each person following their story. At the back are bibliographical and online resources for each person profiled, so anyone profiled who grabs a reader's interest can be further researched in both print and electronic formats. There's also an index. This is a great book for libraries where accurate and unusual historical information for teens is valued. ( )