Book Title: Villainology: Fabulous Lives of the Big, the Bad, and the Wicked

Author: Arthur Slade; Illustrated by Derek Mah

Publishing Company: Tundra Books

Website: http://www.randomhouse.ca/

Year: 2007

# of Pages: 95

ISBN #: 978-0-88776-809-5

$12.99 Canada

$9.95 United States

3 ½ Stars

Reviewer: Deborah Ground Buckner

Arthur Slade offers a closer look at some of the world's most famous literary and historical villains in Villainology: Fabulous Lives of the Big, the Bad, and the Wicked. Each featured subject is described in detail with accompanying illustrations and interesting side facts as well.

Readers will learn the shoes so coveted by the Wicked Witch of the West in L. Frank Baum's The Wizard of Oz were originally silver, but became ruby red in the classic 1939 film because the color showed up so much better against the yellow brick road in Technicolor. The Wolf of The Three Little Pigs and Little Red Riding Hood fame always comes to a bad ending. “He might as well hang out with Humpty Dumpty..” Morgan le Fay of the King Arthur legends receives an A+ for fashion: “She's got that whole 'I'm a sorceress, look at me' thing worked out.” Other famous villains profiled include Billy the Kid, Attila the Hun, Emperor Nero, The Headless Horseman, The Queen from Snow White, Ebenezer Scrooge, and The Phantom of the Opera. A special section is devoted to Shakespearean villains.

Some of the attempts at humor fall flat, but there are enough instances of wit to keep the book entertaining and enough bits of trivia and side notes to provide a proper education in the subject of famous villains. The illustrations by Derek Mah are wonderful, done in black and white, looking like pencil or charcoal sketches.

Even the jokes that don't go over so well could be quite dangerous in the hands of a twelve-year-old boy. That may be the best target audience for this book, and that's not an insult. Twelve-year-old boys need interesting reading material, and if a search for gross information and silly jokes about famous villains can also lead them to learn more about history and literature, that is a fine achievement.

Arthur Slade is the author of the Northern Frights series and the Canadian Chills series. His novel, Dust, won the 2001 Governor General's Award for Children's Literature. He has also written Monsterology, the first book in this series. Derk Mah's illustrations have appeared in Junkbots, Bugbots & Bots on Wheels and Modern Grimm.