Boudicea (around about AD 20–AD 61) was a tough British queen who led a revolution against the Romans almost 2000 years ago.
Lewis Carroll (1832–1898). Lewis Carroll’s real name was Charles Lutwidge Dodgson. His most famous book is Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. He had a very strange haircut.
Geoffrey Chaucer (c. 1343–1400) was the first famous English writer. His book The Canterbury Tales is still a bestseller.
Agatha Christie (1890–1976) was a British crime writer who invented the detectives Hercule Poirot and Miss Marple. She is the bestselling writer of all time with sales of around four BILLION books.
Leonardo da Vinci (1452–1519) was an Italian artist, painter, inventor, sculptor, engineer and all round genius who was born in Vinci, Italy. Apart from painting the world’s best known painting, the Mona Lisa, da Vinci also took time out to sketch ideas for helicopters, tanks, and many other inventions.
Roald Dahl (1916–1990) was a writer, fighter pilot and spy. He was very tall and wrote such classics as Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and Matilda.
Charles Dickens (1812–1870) was an English writer most famous for writing The Adventures of Oliver Twist, A Christmas Carol and Great Expectations among many others.
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (1859–1930) was an Scottish writer best known for writing the Sherlock Holmes books.
Ian Fleming (1908–1964) was the English writer who invented James Bond.
Vlad the Impaler (1431–1476), Prince of Wallachia, was better known as Dracula (his family name was ‘Drakulya’) and was the inspiration for Bram Stoker’s 1897 book of the same name.
Genghis Khan (about 1162–1227) was a blood thirsty warlord/warrior Emperor of the Mongol Empire. He ruled for twenty-one years between 1206 and 1227.
Nero (AD 37–AD 68) was a bonkers Roman Emperor famous for playing his fiddle while Rome almost burnt down around him. He ordered the execution of his mother and probably poisoned his stepbrother.
J. Robert Oppenheimer (1904–1967) was an American scientist who helped develop the atomic bomb, the first of which was tested in New Mexico, USA in 1945.
Beatrix Potter (1866–1943) was an English writer best known for The Tales of Peter Rabbit.
Elvis Presley (1935–1977) was the King of Rock and Roll. His most famous songs include ‘Hound Dog’, ‘Heartbreak Hotel’ and ‘Jailhouse Rock’.
Dr Seuss (1904–1991). Despite the name, the American writer Dr Seuss wasn’t a doctor. Theodor Seuss Geisel was, however, a fantastic writer and illustrator who wrote Martin Chatterton’s favourite book, Horton Hears a Who, as well as The Cat in the Hat and lots more.
William Shakespeare (1564–1616) was almost certainly the best ever writer in the English language. He was also an actor and owner of a theatrical company. If you look closely at the most famous drawing of him you will see a small Z-shaped scar on his forehead.
Tutankhamun (1341 BC–1323 BC) was a young Egyptian pharaoh who died aged 18 and was buried in a great tomb that was discovered in 1922.
Herbert George Wells (1866–1946), better known as H.G.Wells, was an English writer who wrote The Time Machine (about a time machine) and The War of the Worlds (about an invasion from Mars). He’s considered one of the first science fiction writers and he had a big moustache.
* * *
Martin Chatterton was born in Liverpool, England and has been successfully writing and illustrating books for almost thirty years. He has written dozens of children’s books and illustrated many more for other writers, including several British Children’s Laureates. His work has been published into fourteen languages and has won and been shortlisted in numerous awards in the UK, US and Australia. Alongside writing for children, Martin writes crime fiction (as Ed Chatterton), continues to work as a graphic designer and is currently working on his PhD. After time spent in the US, Martin now divides his time between Australia and the UK.
Books by Martin Chatterton
Mort series
Mort
Mortal Combat
Mortified
Other
Middle School: Rafe’s Aussie Adventure
(with James Patterson)
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted by any person or entity, including internet search engines or retailers, in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including printing, photocopying (except under the statutory exceptions provisions of the Australian Copyright Act 1968), recording, scanning or by any information storage and retrieval system without the prior written permission of Random House Australia. Any unauthorised distribution or use of this text may be a direct infringement of the author’s and publisher’s rights and those responsible may be liable in law accordingly.
Version 1.0
Mort
Copyright © Martin Chatterton 2012
The moral right of the author has been asserted.
A Random House book
Published by Random House Australia Pty Ltd
Level 3, 100 Pacific Highway, North Sydney NSW 2060
www.randomhouse.com.au
Addresses for companies within the Random House Group can be found at www.randomhouse.com.au/offices
First published by Random House Australia in 2012
National Library of Australia
Cataloguing-in-Publication Entry
Author: Chatterton, Martin.
Title: Mort / written and illustrated by Martin Chatterton.
ISBN: 978 1 74275 483 3 (ebook)
Target Audience: For primary school age.
Dewey Number: A823.4
Cover illustrations and design by Martin Chatterton
There’s so much more at randomhouse.com.au
Mort Page 9