How Yucky Was It? — Book signing by author Chana Steifel

December 4th at 10am, author Chana Stiefel will be promoting several of her wonderful books, as well as signing copies!

Chana Stiefel is a freelance writer and author of many nonfiction books for children. Her writing offers a fresh, new perspective on topics including wildlife, weather, volcanoes, earthquakes, skyscrapers, forensics, and many other science and history-related subjects. In her books and dozens of magazine articles for both kids and adults, Chana makes copy come alive.

Find out more about her and her books on her website: http://www.chanastiefel.com/

Just to get you a little more excited, here are some of the covers of her awesome books!

We hope to see you there!

Review by Daniel Kraus:
Armed with perhaps the best title of 2011, this entry in the Ye Yucky Middle Ages series explains the inner workings of a castle—and why they were so disgusting. From enemies catapulting rotting animal carcasses over the wall, to the feasts of calves’ feet, to bathrooms that were little more than closets full of feces, Stiefel’s text suggests that castles were basically (shudder) “a giant dorm room” roughly the size of a football field. Crowded, filthy, smoky, and laden with rats and lice, these were indeed, as one chapter heading calls them, “Lifestyles of the Rich and Stinky.” Kelley’s gleeful illustrations are darn near Disneyesque and helped along by random splashes of slime—just, you know, for atmosphere. Glossary terms are in red, and they’re unusually fun. (Do you know the definition of a murder hole?) A colorful, wacky take on a pleasurably unpleasant topic.