Books about infectious disease x-post

[EmilyGF]

I just asked for book recommendations about infectious disease. I'd love recommendations on the General Board if you have any.

(My kids don't appear to have any anxiety about any of this now, just free time because everything they do outside the home has been canceled. If they show anxiety at any point, we'll dial back learning about it.)

Thanks, Emily

[maize]

1 minute ago, square_25 said:

Well, we got a book about all kinds of viruses a while back, with awesome illustrations and explanations. I believe @maize found it online for us: 

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/069116696X/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o03_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

No COVID-19 in there, of course. But it's very cool. Is this the right sort of thing or no? 

I ordered that book for my own family yesterday, after your positive report. My kids are taking a sudden interest in viruses!

[EmilyGF]

That looks interesting and informative.

Mostly, though, I am looking for a more narrative style, like in "Small Steps" which tells about a girl's year in a polio ward in the 1940s. I think the history and science of specific outbreaks is more what my kids like reading. They tend not to get hooked by non-fiction books without narrative (which I know is different than many families on this board).

Emily

Edited March 15, 2020 by EmilyGF

[maize]

3 hours ago, square_25 said:

Yeah, we were really ahead of the curve on this interest, I gotta say :-/. Between this research project and the virus costume, I'm feeling like we may need to market our fortune-telling... 

My daughter already has pages and pages of notes about viruses, DNA, and RNA. It's been HARD for her to read through -- like, she has to ask me about every other sentence -- but she also loves it and is learning a lot. And it has lovely illustrations. 

I'm curious how you like it! It's definitely a collaborative project to read it over here, but your kids are older than mine :-). 

I'll let you know!

I minored in microbiology in college, the virology class was the hardest I ever took--So Much Information to try to learn. 

No pretty pictures in the textbook either. I don't remember much two decades later so a refresher sounds good 🙂

[Lori D.]

For "pandemic" fiction:
- A Doctor Like Papa (Kinsey-Warnock) -- gr. 2-4 -- 1918 Spanish Flu pandemic
- The Boy Who Saved Cleveland (Giblin) -- gr. 3-5 -- 1790s Malaria outbreak
- Close to Home (Weaver) -- gr. 3-5 -- 1940s/1950s Polio outbreak
- Dear Canada series: To Stand On My Own: Polio Epidemic Diary of Noreen Robertson -- gr. 4-6 -- 1930s polio epidemic
- Dear Canada series: If I Die Before I Wake: The Flu Epidemic Diary of Fiona Macgregor -- gr. 4-6 -- 1918 Spanish Flu pandemic
- Fever Year: The Killer Flu of 1918 (Brown) -- gr. 4-6; facts, but in a story-like graphic novel style
- The Great Trouble: A Mystery of London, the Blue Death, and a Boy Called Eel (Hopkinson) -- gr. 4-6 -- 1800s England cholera outbreak
- Hero Over Here (Kudlinski) -- gr. 3-6 -- 1918 Spanish Flu pandemic
- The Heaven Shop (Ellis) -- gr. 5-7 -- orphans from AIDS epidemic in late 20th century Africa
- A Parcel of Patterns (Walsh) -- gr. 7+ -- 1600s England, plague
- Fever 1793 (Andersen) -- gr. 7+ -- U.S. Yellow Fever epidemic

BIG list of mostly middle school level YA epidemic fiction at Good Books

Nonfiction, but with engrossing stories embedded: 
- When Plague Strikes: Black Death; Small Pox; AIDS (Giblin) -- looks like about gr. 6+ reading/interest level...

Nonfiction, with lots of visuals:
For grades 4-7 range, check out back issues/online info of Kids Discover magazine Germs, and, Microbes.

Edited March 16, 2020 by Lori D.

[Lucy the Valiant]

I taught Mystery Disease in a co-op setting 3 years ago, and this is our list of literature that we incorporated into the class. My all-time favorite (which isn't on the list because we required all the students to read it separately) was The Great Trouble: A Mystery of London, the Blue Death, and a Boy Called Eel (it's historical fiction, set during England's cholera epidemic). We also required John Tiner's History of Medicine; the reading level is easy, but the information is spot on & well curated. 

Incidentally, we also used several games from the CDC's website; here's a link to their EXTENSIVE information for kids & teens, which we found excellent for our class. (YMMV under current conditions, naturally.)

(Apologies for formatting; I cut and pasted.)

 

Building a Book List for Mystery Disease Class

Grades 5-8

 

Historical Fiction

 

Shakespeare's Scribe, by Gary Blackwood

Widge, an apprentice in Shakespeare's royal acting company, flees to the countryside in hopes of avoiding the contagious plague sweeping through London in the early 1600's. (Note: This book is a sequel to The Shakespeare Stealer, but easily stands alone as its own novel.)

 

A Time of Angels, by Karen Hesse

Hannah (a Jewish immigrant living in Boston's West End in 1918) sometimes sees angels who appear right when she needs them most. Hannah's parents are on their way to Boston from Europe when the deadly influenza spreads rapidly through New England, and Hannah suddenly finds herself responsible for her entire family.

 

Like the Willow Tree, by Lois Lowry

Lydia Amelia Pierce (age 11) and her brother Daniel are forced with some difficult decisions when the Spanish flu rages through New England in the fall of 1918. Will she find help from the Shakers at Sabbathday Lake? (A Dear America book)

 

Listening for Lions, by Gloria Whelan

Rachel is the daughter of medical missionary parents in Africa in 1919 when influenza strikes, and she is faced with important decisions to make. Will the roar of the lions ever fade?

 

 

Non-Fiction: Biographies

 

Terrible Typhoid Mary: A True Story of the Deadliest Cook in America, by Susan Campbell Bartoletti

 

Non-Fiction: Medical Mysteries and Discoveries

 

Polio: An American Story, by David Oshinsky

 

In the Wake of the Plague, by Norman Cantor

 

Mapping Epidemics: A Historical Atlas of Disease, by Brent Hoff

 

Fatal Fever: Tracking Down Typhoid Mary, by Gail Jarrow

 

Epidemics and Pandemics: Their Impacts on Human History, by J. N. Hays

 

The Ghost Map: The Story of London's Most Terrifying Epidemic – and How It Changed Science, Ctiies, and the Modern World, by Stephen Johnson

 

 

Biographies of Christian Medical Missionaries

 

Ten Fingers for God, by Dorothy Clarke Wilson

 

Daktar: Diplomat in Bangladesh, by Viggo Olsen

 

(Other ideas: Patricia St. John (a personal favorite), Florence Nightingale – do you have one to add?)