Ancient Medicine: From Sorcery to Surgery
by Michael Woods and Mary B. Woods (Runestone Press)

This is the most grody, gory, and yucky book of all time. Isn't that awesome? You won't believe what people in the old days had to do to feel better. Did you know that, instead of stitches, some surgeries in ancient India required Bengali ants, whose powerful teeth clamped down on the cut, sealing it. The ants' bodies were then cut away, leaving only the jaw behind. And get this: it worked. In ancient Egypt, standard practice for healing a toothache involved smooshing a dead mouse into a paste and slathering it right on the tooth! You won't be surprised to learn that treatment did no good at all. Warning: you won't be able to put this snazzy hardback down. Ages 9 and up.--Elizabeth J. Himelfarb

The Outrageous Women Series
by Vicki Leon (John Wiley & Sons)

Photo by Richard Bowditch

Writer Vicki Leon puts the "aunt" in antiquity and the "Eve" in medieval with this pithy and information-packed book series. In Outrageous Women of Ancient Times, Outrageous Women of the Middle Ages, and Outrageous Women of the Renaissance, you'll meet Enheduana of Sumer, who lived 4,000 years ago and always had her nose in a book, only then books were "small clay pillows, not paperbacks." Enheduana was a big-time poet, kind of like Sappho would be 1,500 years later. Sappho was married, by the way, and her daughter was the real apple of her eye. Don't mess with biblical Deborah, writer Leon also tells us, because "there were no soft and fluffy 'Debbies' 3,200 years ago." Just try to keep up with Eleanor of Aquitaine, a real tomboy who "sat still only long enough to get a first-class education." Boy, has history been kind to Cleopatra, who "had many secrets to her success, but cover-girl beauty wasn't one of them. By the time she reached 30, she even had a goiter under her chin." Ages 10 and up.--Elizabeth J. Himelfarb

William Shakespeare and the Globe
by Aliki (HarperCollins)

Well-known author/illustrator Aliki must be an archaeology buff. She's written dozens of great kid's books including Mummies Made in Egypt, The Gods and Goddesses of Olympus, Wild and Woolly Mammoths and more dig-licious titles. But never before has she tackled one of literature's great masters. In this terrific read, she explores Shakespeare and the history of the theater created to stage his plays.    She tells readers about where Shakespeare was born, describing the English countryside he called home 400 years ago, the schools that taught him Latin and Greek, the wife he married, and the rules he had to live by. She also explains a little bit about English politics and why Shakespeare seemed determined to make people happy--and mad. Finally, she illustrates how and why the Globe theater was built and burned to the ground, then how it was rebuilt again and again. She closes her book with "the end," but explains it's really only the beginning. And we understand that history is always new in our minds, if we're willing to learn.    From illustrations to text, William Shakespeare and the Globe is a wonderful book for kids who want to understand the Bard.--Kelly Milner Halls