Pip Hartley
Pip collects the bits the textbooks leave out: the true stories, odd details and forgotten people that make history feel real. Two books are out now in the Real History Legends series, funny real history for kids 9 to 12.
The short version is only the start.
Most children meet history as a short version: a few dates, a few famous names, a tidy ending. Pip is more interested in what got trimmed to make it short. Who was standing at the back of the crowd? What went wrong that nobody likes to mention? Which famous story is the one grown-ups keep getting wrong?
The Real History Legends books are short, funny and true: one story at a time, about the common folk who were there and the famous moments everybody retells. Next comes The Bits They Left Out, illustrated books that each stay with one era.
Pip checks every fact against two sources, never invents dialogue, and says so plainly when historians still disagree.
Out now in paperback
Real History LegendsFamously True
The famous stories from history kids retell at dinner. Soldiers versus emus. Bats versus an air base. A rooster who kept going without his head. All three really happened.
- Ages
- 9 to 12
- Edition
- Paperback, 120 pages
- ISBN
- 978-1-83697-102-3
- Published
- 14 October 2026
Real History LegendsTotally Legendary
Kings and queens get the statues. This book is about everybody else: funny, strange and true stories from the common folk who were there, from ancient Egypt to the 1930s.
- Ages
- 9 to 12 and teens
- Edition
- Paperback, 120 pages
- ISBN
- 978-1-83697-101-6
- Published
- 10 October 2026
Coming soon
Draw the LegendsEpically Drawn
A how-to-draw book for kids 8 to 12. Learn to draw 60 real history legends in 6 easy steps, with true stories they'll retell at dinner.
Not on sale yet.
Coming next: The Bits They Left Out, starting with the American Revolution.
Families, teachers, librarians and booksellers can reach Pip's publisher at hello@brilliantio.com.