If someone were to say the words "bubonic plague" there are probably three things that come to mind: medieval England, death, and ....image taken from: http://www.allgeektome.net/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/ellaria-sand-game-of-thrones-reaction-gif-mountain-viper.gif Summary: This nonfiction work is packed with information for someone looking to learn about how the bubonic plague made its way to America. Gail Jarrow takes to history and brings to life the bubonic plague and the scare that it caused in America in the early 1900s, but still manages even to this day haunt America. This book contains 15 chapters that span across the last 150 years, tracing the bubonic plague and showing its place and effect on medicine, America, and immigrants. It has a ton of sources, bibliographies and indexes, made available. My Review: Are you interested in learning about one of the most talked about diseases in history, love the thought of infections and blood, or don’t mind a lot of rats? Then this book is ABSOLUTELY for you! Trust me, with pictures that are more real and vivid then a real life doctor’s visit. The author makes the material even more interesting than it already is by her writing style. The first chapter, which introduces the plague, but rather than saying things like: “the plague this”, “people got the plague”, and “the plague spread”, she turned the plague into an almost person like quality saying things like, “The Killer” and “The Phantom”. Doing this completely transforms the idea of this being nonfiction and gives the reader a sense that it could be a fictional book, but then BAM on the next page you a faced with gruesome images of what the plague does to its victims! I thought overall this book read very painlessly and was very informative. I, myself, did not know that the plague expanded to the U.S. and this book really shows how it was a huge problem, especially on the West coast. The book is full of real pictures, documents, and drawings to explain what is going on. What a great read for middle schoolers and those older.
7 Comments
Stephanie Croaning
9/26/2016 12:23:25 pm
I can definitely see that this book with it's engaging writing style and tragic theme will appeal to many middle schoolers! The pictures that you show definitely are high interest...how many photos are included, compared to text? Are the photos sporadic, or available on every page? This could definitely be one of those hi-lo texts for high school students.
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Stephanie Croaning
9/26/2016 12:24:19 pm
And how many total pages?
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Chaise
9/28/2016 09:13:14 am
Hi Stephanie!
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Stephanie
10/4/2016 08:47:11 am
Thanks Chaise! I'll bet some of our 5th graders would enjoy this book! It is definitely a topic that they usually don't read about.
Sheila
10/10/2016 07:50:09 pm
I love your review! One thing you might consider is adding a few additional sources for information for the teens. One site that has some really fascinating information and videos on the Bubonic Plague is the History Channel, http://www.history.com/topics/black-death.
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Deirdre Schirmer
11/2/2016 07:30:55 pm
Best review I've read so far! I love your style. It's informative and fun and just the kind of review that kids/teens would like to read to help them decide whether or not to read a book. Love the gif and the comments, but it would be helpful to know where to get the book if I were a teen at your library. Links, links, I want links to get me to the book! This review would be great on your library teen page or ya blog. Or on mine....?
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Michal Miller
11/7/2016 11:31:41 am
I love how lively your reviews are! Who knew a review on the Bubonic Plague could be so intriguing! I like how the author personified the Plague, what a spooky thing to do, but very captivating.
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AuthorMy name is Chaise Carter. I am currently a grad student working towards my MLS. I love YA lit, so a majority of the books reviewed and posted will fall in that realm. Archives
November 2016
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