Bloody Moments

Highlights from the Astonishing History of Medicine
Written by Gael Jennings
Illustrated by Roland Harvey  

    Want to curl up with something really gross? If you enjoy gory scabs and lumps, germs and vomit, then this book is for you.

     And if you have the stomach for it you will find out about many of the fascinating discoveries that led up to modern medicine like it is today.  In the story you will follow Mabel around the world where among other things she runs into a man getting his blood sucked up by over 50 leeches! She also finds outs out about digestion thanks to poor Alexis St. Martin who has a 15 cm gunshot hole in his stomach!

    Each page was more interesting than the next and it is so gross that you won't even realize you are learning something! Granted your teacher may not want to hear a report about Lazzaro Spallanzani. Lazzaro decided to keep eating his own vomit and throwing it up again to see how it would change. (It just keeps getting runnier and runnier in case you were curious.)

     There is a great index in the back where you can look up your favorite ailment and find out how they used to treat it. It made me very happy to know that I was not around back then for some of those procedures!

    The author, Gael Jennings has quite a twisted sense of humor, as well as a Ph.D in how the immune system works. This is her first book.

    Roland Harvey has illustrated many books for children and has one several awards in Australia, He has been illustrating since he was two years old.