Mary Dobson Books

Smelly Old History is a unique new series that brings history to your nose through scratch-and-sniff panels. Informative and amusing text, hilarious artwork, glossary, and puzzles combine with these pungent panels to give children a true "sense of the past". With these often funny tours back in time, young readers will learn that smells have played a powerful role in our history. Get a whiff of gritty reality with Hannibal and his elephants, Nelson's seasick sailors, and the jungle campaigns of World War II. Revolting revolutions get an airing too.

Lose yourself in the aromas of ancient Egypt, from the fragrant pharaohs in their palaces, to the sweaty laborers building the pyramids. Making mummies of the dead was a very smelly business--and unwrapping them thousands of years later was even worse. (Poor Tutenkhamun's finger came off withhis bandages.) For sweet relief, pick up some beauty tips from the indisputed queen of the Nile--Cleopatra.

The human stories behind disease, plagues and epidemics and their deadly impact through history.