Terry Deary Books in Order

Judge Fumble plans a retreat to his country mansion after imprisoning innocent people, but worries about transporting his fortune. The Crime Academy students are learning from Wildpool's leading highway robber, setting up another clash between wealth and their unusual schooling.

William Wallace, Scottish torture practices and local ghost stories feature in this illustrated history for young readers. Deary combines humor with gruesome details, exploring Scotland's past through people, customs and tales that challenge a tidier view of history.

A brisk history of espionage, secret messages, disguises, double agents, and dangerous missions. From ancient tricks to wartime intelligence, it shows how spies gathered information and why getting caught could have terrible consequences.

In a German village in 1227, Sir Ulrich arrives wearing green silk in honor of Venus. Offering a gold ring to anyone who fights him, the armed knight presents the locals with a challenge unlike their usual tavern visitors.

The servants of Hylton Castle live in fear of Sir Robert's violent temper in 1609 England. When forgetful stable boy Roger Skelton makes a mistake, the household faces the consequences of serving a master capable of terrible cruelty.

Serving girl Cristina has a reputation for cowardice in Valencia in 1099. With enemies at the city gates, she must lead El Cid into battle under strange circumstances, finding courage when others' survival depends on her taking the reins.

Held hostage by Richard III in 1485, young George dreams of becoming a knight. He and his servant Robin must navigate shifting loyalties and dangerous suspicions as the struggle over England's future threatens to catch them in its violence.

This illustrated guide introduces fifty notorious figures from history, grouped into categories such as assassins, rebels, criminals, rulers, and wicked women. Its profiles use varied formats, including stories, diary entries, mock newspapers, and fact files.

A humorous guide to life in ancient Egypt, covering gods, pyramids, mummies, pharaohs, Cleopatra, and Tutankhamun. Facts, cartoons, a timeline, and a mummy quiz explore both everyday life and the Egyptians’ stranger mistakes.

This collection gathers several Horrible Histories Gory Stories into one volume. Young characters face danger in ancient Egypt, Roman Britain, and Tudor England, combining fictional adventures with grim details from the historical periods behind them.

A lively guide to Dublin’s past, uncovering unusual people, rough politics, rebellions, disasters, and strange local stories. It turns the city’s landmarks into entry points for the grim, funny, and surprising events behind them.

This guide to Edinburgh uncovers the city’s darker past through old streets, royal drama, graveyards, crime, and ghostly tales. Short facts and comic illustrations make its long, often grisly history easy to explore.

Historical facts, comic strips, short stories and jokes share space with activities and puzzles in this annual. Written for young readers, it uses the series' humor and gruesome details to turn encounters with the past into something to explore and play with.

A quiz collection centered on grisly and comic moments from British history. Readers test their knowledge of historical people, events, and unpleasant details through questions designed for the Horrible Histories television tie-in range.

From Roman Londinium to wartime bombing, this guide explores London’s nastier history. Fires, plagues, executions, crime, crowded streets, and odd local characters show how the capital grew through centuries of upheaval.

This handbook cuts through the polished image of medieval knighthood to reveal hard training, brutal battles, strange rules, and uncomfortable castle life. It is packed with fast facts about armor, weapons, tournaments, and medieval violence.

A gruesome guide to Oxford explores the city beyond its famous university buildings. It digs into strange crimes, local legends, dangerous pastimes, and the people whose less polished stories shaped the streets and colleges.

A comic guide to pirate life, covering crews, ships, treasure, punishment, and famous sea raiders. It exposes the hunger, disease, danger, and bad decisions behind the swashbuckling stories, with facts designed for quick browsing.

A young adventurer is drawn into the brutal, uncertain world of pirates, stolen treasure, and life at sea. With danger closing in from every side, the story uses a fast historical plot to show that piracy was far less glamorous than legend suggests.

In 1940 Sheffield, siblings investigate a mystery while two German boys plan to help a Polish prisoner escape. As bombing and their schemes draw the children into danger, adventures on both sides of the war become struggles to survive.

Wildpool's wealthy citizens believe a new bank will finally protect their money from thieves. The students at Master Crook's Crime Academy see a different opportunity, preparing to test their ingenuity against the safeguards of their most ambitious robbery yet.

This city guide looks past Stratford-upon-Avon’s Shakespeare connections to uncover its stranger history. Gruesome tales, local characters, old punishments, and surprising facts reveal a town with more than one famous story to tell.

Acheron entertains Troy's rulers with invented stories, earning a reputation as a liar. When the Greeks leave a wooden horse outside the besieged city, he suspects a trap, but persuading anyone to believe his warning becomes the real challenge.

Taken captive by Viking warriors as a child, Fleece tends sheep for a bullying farmer in Norway. She longs to return to her birthplace across the sea, but finding a way out of servitude seems an impossible task.

Viking voyagers reach North America in 1009 and see fertile land where they could settle. Establishing a home requires more than finding suitable ground, however, as they must learn to live alongside the people already inhabiting it.

This illustrated history ranges across England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales, mixing humor with disturbing events. Stories of the Black Death, Culloden and Jack the Ripper introduce young readers to violence and suffering behind familiar places and episodes from the past.

As Vikings threaten Wessex in 878, young Ethelbert thinks he could govern better than King Alfred. Events soon give him a chance to test that boast, bringing a child's confidence into the dangers of a kingdom under attack.

Ten comic-strip episodes trace the Tudor period from the Battle of Bosworth through Elizabeth I. The book condenses major rulers and events into a brisk historical overview, with humorous details about the dynasty’s politics, wars, and executions.

This history guide explores witchcraft, fear, folklore, and the cruel trials that followed accusations. It mixes strange beliefs and magic tales with the real human cost of witch hunts, showing how dangerous superstition could become.

A fast-moving guide to warriors from different times and places, with facts about fighting, weapons, leadership, and survival. It looks at what battle demanded of people and why the stories behind famous fighters are often messy.

A funny, fact-filled guide to York’s past, from Romans and Vikings to medieval conflict and later city life. It follows the grim stories behind familiar streets, walls, prisons, and landmarks, with plenty of unpleasant local details.

The 2012 annual combines historical facts and stories with cartoons, jokes, activities and puzzles. Young readers encounter the past through the series' fascination with gruesome details, moving between short pieces to read and challenges to work out themselves.

A comic-strip survey of medieval knights, moving from legendary tales and English warfare to the Crusades. Ten illustrated episodes explore the violence behind chivalry, presenting the period in a fast, accessible nonfiction format.

A comic-strip introduction to Ancient Rome told through ten episodes about turning points and notorious figures. Short fact sections and annotated visuals add context on Caesar, Spartacus, the Colosseum, and the Great Fire.

An illustrated handbook about the First World War trenches, from mud and rats to gas attacks and shellfire. Short sections explain how soldiers lived, fought, communicated, and tried to survive one of history’s most punishing battlefields.

Captives Jed and Arthur find pirate Captain Fly far less impressive than he claims. Ordered to join his crew or be killed, the boys must find a way to resist the bullying captain aboard his ship in the North Atlantic.

Cabin boy Tom sails with Francis Drake from Plymouth in 1577 on a mission to seize Spanish gold. Huge waves, enemy galleons and a voyage around the world stand between him and his hopes of returning wealthy.

Former slave, pirate and sugar planter Red-legs Greaves awaits execution for piracy on Nevis Island. His friend Lou, an enslaved girl, wants to save him, but with the hanging scheduled for morning, hope depends on something extraordinary happening.

Captured pirate Grace O'Malley expects punishment, but instead receives orders to travel from Ireland to London. In 1593, a woman accustomed to commanding the Irish Sea must face Elizabeth I, bringing two very different kinds of power together.

This history book examines crime and punishment through unsettling cases and strange laws, from executions to school discipline. It also includes a local-policing challenge and a game about escaping the Tower of London.

This annual combines historical facts and activities with characters familiar from the Horrible Histories television series, including Rattus Rattus. Terry Deary and Martin Brown bring the books' approach to history into an illustrated collection for young readers.

This illustrated guide follows Edinburgh's darker history through its castle, High Street, and other landmarks. Stories of raids, murder, and unusual souvenirs accompany a city map that helps readers connect the historical incidents to places they can visit.

This guide explores London's history through the Tower, the Thames, and St Paul's Cathedral. Plague, fire, and the city's unsanitary past feature in an illustrated tour that connects familiar landmarks with some of their less comfortable stories.

In 1838, Patrick and Grace Leary sail aboard the Sirius as it races the Great Western across the Atlantic. Their cousin Ben is on the rival ship, while fire, injury, and dwindling coal threaten the crossing.

Young railway worker Tommy sees a crowded train heading toward track removed for repairs. Charles Dickens is among the passengers, and Tommy must try to prevent disaster in this story based on the Victorian crash at Staplehurst.

In Paris in 1852, Henri Giffard prepares to demonstrate his steam-powered airship before a crowd. His landlord demands unpaid rent, and changing weather threatens a flight on which Henri's money and hopes of success depend.

Seven accounts of unexplained events invite readers to weigh what might really have happened. Each story is accompanied by factual material, giving young readers evidence to consider as they explore mysteries that resist an easy answer.

This history for adults examines the Roman Empire through the dangers faced by its people. Gladiatorial violence, executions, poisoning, fires, and volcanic disaster reveal the cruelty and insecurity beneath Rome's familiar image as a civilised society.

A whirlwind tour of catastrophic and violent moments from across history, from the Great Fire of Rome to the St. Valentine's Day Massacre. The book gathers battles, disasters, crimes, and other deadly events into an illustrated, non-chronological history overview.

This illustrated annual mixes historical facts with games, jokes, quizzes, and puzzles. Terry Deary and Martin Brown draw on the Horrible Histories approach to explore unpleasant details from the past while giving young readers activities to tackle.

Terry Deary and Martin Brown gather favourite material from twenty years of Horrible Histories. Moving from ancient Egypt and Rome to Victorian Britain and the Second World War, the collection offers an illustrated tour through the past.

Photographer Alfred Adams is shot down over France in 1917 while serving as an aerial observer. Behind enemy lines, he and pilot Donald Stewart encounter the German flying ace Manfred von Richthofen, better known as the Red Baron.

Jenny once dreamed of underground trains with the young Queen Victoria. Twenty years later, building the railway destroys her family's home, and another meeting with the Queen gives her a chance to reveal the cost of that dream.

In Flanders in 1914, young Albert and a veteran soldier witness an unofficial Christmas truce. Carols and a football match bring British and German troops together, but their officers object to this sudden friendship across the trenches.

This history looks beyond Elizabeth I's court to the people struggling to survive her reign. Poverty, disease, violent punishment, and religious persecution sit alongside exploration and Shakespeare, questioning the familiar picture of an uncomplicated English Golden Age.

This history examines the hazards behind the expansion of Victorian railways. Exploding boilers, inadequate brakes, disease, and accidents shift attention from celebrated engineers to passengers and workers, whose lives were put at risk by the new transport system.

A Christmas-themed Horrible Histories collection that explores the darker and stranger side of the festive season. Organized around the twelve days of Christmas, it ranges across traditions, food, animals, royalty, games, weather, and notable events from different eras.

In northern England in 1075, Emma sees Viking ships approaching and tries to warn her village. The monks refuse to believe her, leaving Emma and her brother Symeon to confront the danger of attack and betrayal.

This illustrated annual combines facts, games, jokes, quizzes, and puzzles about periods from Roman times to the world wars. Tudor and Georgian history also feature, giving young readers several ways to explore the unpleasant details of the past.

A Christmas-themed sticker activity book filled with quizzes, historical facts, and more than 500 stickers. Its festive subjects include trees, puddings, reindeer, pantomimes, and curious seasonal customs, giving young readers plenty to read and complete.

A hands-on sticker activity book that races through more than four million years of world history, from the Stone Age to the twentieth century. It includes foul facts, over 300 stickers, and a fold-out timeline stretching more than three metres.

During the Second World War, two children notice suspicious strangers in their small Scottish village. Realising the visitors are German spies, they must alert the authorities before the spies discover what the children know and come after them.

A small town's Home Guard needs equipment during the Second World War, but a local factory owner refuses to help. The older soldiers and the young people supporting them turn to unusual methods to obtain their supplies.

A young troublemaker is reluctantly evacuated to the countryside during the Second World War. When he is wrongly accused of theft, life away from home brings a new problem in this story of children on the Home Front.

With wartime rationing making food scarce, a girl becomes involved in a black-market trader's illegal dealings. A supposedly haunted farm holds another mystery, drawing her into the hidden side of life on Britain's Second World War Home Front.

A pocket-sized guide to fifty kings and queens, concentrating on the ruthless, strange, and scandalous sides of royalty. Bite-sized entries and lists introduce historical rulers through fresh material, full-color layouts, and Martin Brown's illustrations.

Molly enjoys travelling with Shakespeare's theatre company, but the jester Armin keeps tormenting her. Her difficulties unfold alongside A Midsummer Night's Dream, where confused lovers and a fairy queen enchanted by a donkey create their own troubles.

A fact-filled survey of fifty British castles, spanning Roman times through the London Blitz. It explores sieges, spies, betrayals, revenge, and strange castle anecdotes, including haunted strongholds and improvised defenses, with Martin Brown illustrations.

This history explores the lives of ancient Egyptians beyond their pyramids and tombs. War, poverty, disease, and dangerous animals threaten rulers and ordinary workers alike, showing how daily survival shaped the people behind the monuments.

Orphan Mary cleans up stage blood while trying to escape her unpleasant master. On stage, Macbeth and his wife pursue the throne promised by witches, linking Mary's theatre life with a play full of ambition, treason, and ghosts.

Sam is preparing to star in Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet when rumours of plague threaten to close the theatre. His hoped-for opportunity unfolds alongside the play's young lovers, whose hostile families stand in the way of their relationship.

In Essex in 1916, Millie Wilson and local constables encounter a damaged German zeppelin. As the crew struggles to land the leaking airship, they race to arrest its occupants, bringing the war into a small English village.

A large miscellany of strange, gruesome, and comic history facts. Short pieces range across subjects such as Roman graffiti, punishments, royal nicknames, unusual beauty practices, animals, food, and famous rulers, making it a browseable collection rather than a chronological history.

An interactive, date-by-date journal that pairs space for readers' notes, drawings, and diary entries with a grisly historical fact for every day of the year. This color reissue of Dreadful Diary invites readers to create their own horrible history.

A countdown-style guide to fifty notorious figures from history, combining short profiles with themed facts and lists. It introduces gangsters, mass murderers, and other infamous people whose actions made them feared, alongside Martin Brown's comic illustrations.

Jane and John discover a plot to take Queen Elizabeth I's throne while she attends a play. They must try to stop it as Twelfth Night unfolds on stage, with disguised identities and tangled affections creating another kind of confusion.

This anniversary yearbook gathers horrible people and grim episodes from across history in a mock school format. Readers meet the class of 1066, investigate especially vile historical figures, and work through facts, games, puzzles, and activities.

A guided tour through fifty historic great houses in Britain and Ireland, tracing their stories from prehistory to today. It looks beyond grand rooms to ghost tales, betrayals, and the people connected with places from Holyroodhouse to Buckingham Palace.

Edwin and Luke are training to become monks in Whitby in 867 when Viking invaders interrupt their quiet lives. The frightened boys face warriors whose gods seem just as fearsome, in a story of the clash between their worlds.

Servant Mervyn sees danger in King Vortigern's supposedly clever plans. With Saxon invaders, Pictish raiders, and a beautiful Saxon princess complicating matters, he must try to protect a king whose confidence may put his throne at risk.

Young Marian's village already struggles with heavy taxes and bandits when Lord Ethelbert plots to seize King Offa's throne. Caught between powerful rivals, Marian must use her wits to keep the peace and protect herself from the conflict.

In Saxon Kent, soup made from a stolen sheep is discovered in the Medway household. Young Edward takes the blame, facing execution under the law, while his father must find a way to save him from hanging.

Ardith is apprenticed to Wilfred, a respected healer in a Saxon village, but his age means she'll soon take over. As the dangers of her work become clear, she learns that potions alone won't keep her safe.

A twisted school yearbook gathers historical figures into a class of 1066, complete with mock awards, foul facts, activities, and games. Created to mark 25 years of Horrible Histories, it surveys notorious people and events from across history.

This hands-on guide explores First World War trench life for British and German troops. Fold-outs, illustrated fact files, letters, and paper features cover rations, weapons, lice, gas masks, and the daily struggle to survive the mud and shellfire.

Fleeing the police and Arfur Loaf, Boy hides in Wiggott's Wonderful Waxworld and boards the Terror Train. Pursued by Burke and Hare, he must escape, rescue a girl and find a way back to his own time.

In prehistoric Lascaux, Willow's intelligence matters less to other boys than strength and hunting skill. When powerful Bull becomes their tribe's chief, Willow must use his wits to survive in a community that undervalues him.

As the Ice Age ends, Jay enjoys listening to his grandfather's stories beside their river home. Outside, food shortages and conflict between tribes threaten their lives, while steadily rising water adds another danger to their uncertain future.

In ancient Mesopotamia, Sin-leqi avoids hunting by entertaining his tribe with stories of Gilgamesh found on temple tablets. The arrangement keeps him comfortable until the tales run out, leaving him to face the work he's escaped.

At Skara Brae, Tuc and his sister Storm try catching birds because they're tired of eating fish. When a thief steals half their tribe's winter supplies, finding food becomes a matter of survival rather than preference.

In 1918 Flanders, American soldiers trapped behind enemy lines are being fired on by both sides. Their last carrier pigeon, Cher Ami, must carry a message through gunfire in a story drawn from an actual wartime rescue.

In northern France in 1918, Aimee discovers her mother's involvement in a British spy network. Befriending stranded German boy Marius, she tries to help him reach his own side while evading a traitor she helped expose.

Evacuated to Wales during the Second World War, Brigit runs away to join her mother at a secret training camp. Their work takes them to occupied France, where supporting the resistance means hunting double agents and facing constant danger.

A new mayor takes over Wildpool, threatening the Ladies Who Crunch with eviction and Wiggott's Wonderful Waxworld with demolition. Molly and Boy must unravel what's happening and try to save the places and people they care about.

This history follows crimes committed by Britain's poorer classes from Norman times onward, including theft, fraud and riot. It also examines punishment and resistance, showing how ordinary people broke laws for personal gain or to challenge injustice.

Britain and Ireland’s seafaring past unfolds through explorers, pirates, enslavers, sailors, and fishing communities. Accounts of the Royal and Merchant Navies, shipbuilding, and ocean voyages reveal the dangers and brutality behind familiar maritime history.

This history explores ordinary people's lives through food, work, disease, education, marriage and entertainment. Stories ranging from medieval hardship to modern experiences show how those at the bottom of society endured exploitation and found ways to survive.

Presented as Henry VIII’s imagined diary, this illustrated history book follows key moments in the Tudor king’s life. It uses a humorous first-person format to introduce young readers to one of England’s most notorious monarchs and his era.

This illustrated, diary-style introduction enters the imagined perspective of Queen Victoria. Covering major events in her life and the history of her empire, it offers an accessible, humorous route into Victorian history for younger readers.

This illustrated history book traces the often hazardous story of human flight, from kite experiments and homemade wings to ballooning and the Wright brothers. It presents aviation pioneers, failures, and breakthroughs through facts, stories, and the series’ comic approach.