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Books in You Wouldn't Want To... series

  • You Wouldn't Want to Live Without Coding!

    Alex Woolf, David Antram

    Paperback (Franklin Watts, Sept. 1, 2018)
    Without coding, all the computers in the world would just be useless boxes of plastic and metal. You could feed information into them, but they wouldn't know what to do with it.This series takes readers (Ages 8-12) on a historical journey, examining how people coped in the past and how they developed ingenious ways to make life safer and less unpleasant. Each book features full-color cartoon-style illustrations and hilarious speech bubbles to heighten interest, making the series attractive even to reluctant readers.Coding means creating a set of instructions (or algorithms) that tells a computer how to perform a task. Another word for coding is "programming." Learn about how much we rely on coding in our daily lives to control things such as smartphones and laptops, kitchen appliances, weather forecasts, traffic lights, heating systems, elevators, cars, and the greenhouses where our food is grown.
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  • You Wouldn't Want to Be a Second World War Evacuee

    Leverhulme Trust Early Career Fellow and Extraordinary Junior Research Fellow Simon Smith

    Paperback (Scribblers, Nov. 17, 2016)
    You are a 10-year-old girl living in London with your family in 1938. When the German air force begins dropping bombs on the city, the government decides to evacuate you and thousands of other children to the English countryside. An uncertain life of rural hardship, bullying and loneliness awaits you. "You Wouldn't Want To Be" is a constantly-growing library of exciting titles which transport the reader to the grisliest times and places in history. The first-person narrative approach puts the reader in the shoes of some of the most unfortunate people ever to have lived. Humorous cartoon-style illustrations bring the characters to life, while informative captions explain processes or chronological events.
  • You Wouldn't Want to Be a Salem Witch!: Bizarre Accusations You'd Rather Not Face

    Jim Pipe, David Antram

    Library Binding (Franklin Watts, March 1, 2009)
    Uses humor in both text and illustrations to describe life for women and girls in 17th-century Salem, Massachusetts.
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  • You Wouldn't Want to Be a Suffragist!: A Protest Movement That's Rougher Than You Expected

    Fiona MacDonald, David Salariya, David Antram

    Paperback (Franklin Watts, Sept. 1, 2008)
    A look at the dark side of history offers up the surprising difficulties endured by women suffragists who stood up for women's rights, including the right to vote. Simultaneous.
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  • You Wouldn't Want to Be a Polar Explorer!: An Expedition You'd Rather Not Go on

    Jen Green, David Salariya, David Antram

    Library Binding (Franklin Watts, Sept. 1, 2001)
    Offers a humorous look at the polar expedition of Ernest Shackleton.
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  • You Wouldn't Want to Meet Typhoid Mary!: A Deadly Cook You'd Rather Not Know

    Jacqueline Morley, David Antram

    Library Binding (Franklin Watts, Jan. 15, 2013)
    Brief text, sidebars, labeled illustrations, and humorous cartoons depict the story of Mary Mallon, an Irish immigrant cook who became known as "Typhoid Mary" when she infected many New Yorkers with the deadly disease.
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  • You Wouldn't Want to Live Without Money!

    Alex Woolf, David Antram

    Paperback (Franklin Watts, Sept. 1, 2015)
    Learn how moneylending grew into today's banking industry, and how credit allows us to spend money we don't even have.This series takes readers (Ages 8-12) on a historical journey, examining how people coped in the past and how they developed ingenious ways to make life safer and less unpleasant. Each book features full-color cartoon-style illustrations and hilarious speech bubbles to heighten interest, making the series attractive even to reluctant readers.None of us has as much money as we would like, but imagine if money didn't exist at all. How would we buy the things we need, or sell the things we don't need? Who would decide whether a basket of fruit is worth the same as a hunting spear? Many things have been used as money, from live animals through cowrie shells to plastic cards.
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  • You Wouldn't Want To Be A Civil War Soldier!

    Thomas Ratliff, David Antram

    Library Binding (Turtleback Books, Jan. 15, 2013)
    FOR USE IN SCHOOLS AND LIBRARIES ONLY. Combines humorous cartoons and facts to depict what it was like to be a soldier during the four years of the Civil War.
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  • You Wouldn't Want to Meet a Body Snatcher!

    Fiona Macdonald, David Antram

    Paperback (Franklin Watts, March 1, 2009)
    This book examines the incidents of body snatching and murder in Edinburgh in the nineteenth century, where criminals would commonly sell corpses to the medical community for dissection.This interactive series will enthrall young and reluctant readers (Ages 8-12) by making them part of the story, inviting them to become the main character. Each book uses humorous illustrations to depict the sometimes dark and horrific side of life during important eras in history.
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  • You Wouldn't Want to Be a Victorian Mill Worker!: A Grueling Job You'd Rather Not Have

    John Malam, David Salariya, David Antram

    Paperback (Franklin Watts, Sept. 1, 2007)
    Describes the many dangerous jobs performed by children who worked in the cotton mills of industrial England in the nineteenth century, work that included long hours, low pay, and no provision for school work.
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  • You Wouldn't Want to Live Without Gravity!

    Anne Rooney, Mark Bergin

    Paperback (Franklin Watts, Jan. 15, 2016)
    You don't really get a choice about gravity. If you live on Earth, you're going to have to live with it.This series takes readers (Ages 8-12) on a historical journey, examining how people coped in the past and how they developed ingenious ways to make life safer and less unpleasant. Each book features full-color cartoon-style illustrations and hilarious speech bubbles to heighten interest, making the series attractive even to reluctant readers.If you become an astronaut, you might get to escape from gravity for a while, but it will be waiting for you when you get home. But gravity does a lot of useful things - such as keeping us on the Earth and holding the entire universe together! Learn how gravity was discovered and why it helps us to understand everything from how toothpaste comes out of the tube to the movements of the planets.
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  • You Wouldn't Want to Live Without Clocks and Calendars!

    Fiona Macdonald, David Antram

    Paperback (Franklin Watts, Sept. 1, 2015)
    That hour that drags, that day you can't wait for-and those months of blissful sun that you count down to!This series takes readers (Ages 8-12) on a historical journey, examining how people coped in the past and how they developed ingenious ways to make life safer and less unpleasant. Each book features full-color cartoon-style illustrations and hilarious speech bubbles to heighten interest, making the series attractive even to reluctant readers.All these things have been made measurable by clocks and calendars. Although time may not always be on our side, without clocks and calendars we would forget birthdays, be late for appointments, and miss out on important things in life.
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