THE GREAT STINK

Unearth the smelly, complicated history of London’s sewage system!

This informative exploration of London’s sanitation history will delight nonfiction fans interested in history, ecology, biography, and more. A brief account of London’s waste-removal system from the 1500s to the 1800s provides context before the book introduces Joseph Bazalgette, the future father of sanitation. Bazalgette’s journey is woven into the multiple cholera epidemics, the incorrect medical information, and the political challenges that defined the age. Backmatter further explains the connection between the London sewage system of the 1800s and the modern world. A bulleted list of information provides additional information about modern systems and suggestions for ways families can reduce water pollution. Keen educators and caregivers will find this a useful tool in lessons about ecology. The watercolor-and-ink illustrations make the most of the text, creating sweeping double-page spreads that depict the teeming city and the grandeur of Bazalgette’s work. The addition of skeletons intermingling with the living population drives home the losses of the epidemics—a message that won’t be lost on modern readers—and the inclusion of a range of skin tones will quietly remind readers that London has been a diverse city for centuries. Bazalgette himself presents White.

Far from stinky.