Ideas for Learners Promoting Literacy, Inquiry, and Meaningful Learning Experiences
Famous Phonies: Legends, Fakes, and Frauds Who Changed History by Brianna DuMont
 

Book Summary

William Shakespeare, Confucius, Hiawatha, Pythagoras, and The Turk are a few featured chapters about misunderstood people from history.
 
Famous Phonies book cover
Famous Phonies

Book Review

Great topic, and good profile selections. I think this book could be a great springboard for students to learn more history and more details about famous figures, and it does an excellent job illustrating misconceptions and outright false information. However, there are so many opinionated asides throughout the book that I really wanted to go to specific footnotes for sources. The tone is intended to be conversational and humorous, and I think it would appeal to many middle school kids, but they'll need to be critical thinkers to be able to follow the sarcasm; some of the references are unlikely to click with younger readers.

 

Topics and Themes for this book:

 
  • Critical Thinking
  • Biography
  • History
 
  • Fact-Based Research
  • Humorous Nonfiction

Discussion Questions for this book:

The best discussion questions, of course, are generated by and contemplated by readers. These questions are designed to avoid major spoilers about the book, and to provide a starting point for teachers, parents, and student reading groups.


**Questions coming soon**

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