As the title and the cartoonish digitally rendered illustrations may suggest, I Feel Better with a Frog in My Throat: History’s Strangest Cures by Carlyn Beccia (Houghton Mifflin, 2010) is a rather silly book.
By providing quizzes along the lines of “which remedy will help you feel better?” Ms. Beccia manages to surprise the reader with historical and medical facts that will help one understand just why some of the remedies of history actually do work. It’s a hilarious look at life in the past – and it sure makes this modern-day reader grateful for modern medical care!
I Feel Better is amusing and informative for child and adult readers alike. Beccia indicates the origin of the remedies in the text, and provides a detailed bibliography on the last page, so the reader knows he or she is reading fact.
