Ambushed: The Assassination Plot Against President Garfield by Gail Jarrow - ADVISABLE

Ambushed: The Assassination Plot Against President Garfield by Gail Jarrow, 234 pages. NON-FICTION Calkins Creek (Boyds Mills), 2021 $19. 

Language: G (0 swears 0 'f'); Mature Content: G; Violence: PG (Descriptions of medical procedures, a shooting). 

BUYING ADVISORY: MS, HS - ADVISABLE 

AUDIENCE APPEAL: AVERAGE 

In the summer of 1881, Charles Guiteau shot President James Garfield. For 80 days Garfield's doctors tried to save him, and the whole country followed the news reports. Was it the bullet that killed the President, or was it something else? 

Part of Gail Jarrow's "Medical Fiascos" series, Ambushed covers brief biographies of both Garfield and Guiteau. Jarrow is also a master storyteller, and the plot, the shooting, and the aftermath are gripping, exciting, and a bit gross - like the doctors probing the wound, searching for the bullet with their fingers and instruments that haven't been sterilized. Illustrated with magazine and newspaper drawings and headlines from the time period, as well as photographs and other artifacts like telegrams and notes. Includes a glossary, timeline, websites for more information, an author's note, sources, and a bibliography. Certainly buying a copy for my collection.

Lisa Librarian