From School Library Journal
Grade 5-9 - Offering riveting information on frightening epidemics, these attractive volumes are exemplary information sources. Each one begins with a discussion of the cause of the disease and the infection process. Subsequent chapters then treat its history and search for a cure, the course it took during a particular time and in a particular place (the United States between 1900 and the early 1960s in Polio, worldwide in 1918-1919 in Influenza, and 1492-1800 in the New World in Smallpox), and eventual success in creating vaccines or, in Influenza, continued efforts to re-create the genetic code for the virus in order to prevent recurrence. Peters makes superb and frequent use of primary sources. The selection of period reproductions and photographs is also outstanding, and the illustrations extend the texts perfectly. Each book also includes an annotated list for further reading and a detailed, accurate index. The author's prose is exceptionally lucid, interesting, and graceful. While Alvin Silverstein's Polio (Enslow, 2001),Virginia Aronson's Influenza Pandemic of 1918-1919 (Chelsea House, 2000), and Tom Ridgway's Smallpox (Rosen, 2001) cover the same turf, none of those titles does it with the style of these offerings. - Ann Welton, Grant Elementary School, Tacoma, WA
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
From Booklist
Gr. 6-10. Peters makes both the science and the social history compelling in this title in the new five-book Epidemic! set, which will be welcomed by teachers across the curriculum. In her wide-ranging presentation, the author discusses everything from polio's early history and the demographics of the illness to research, the vaccines developed by Salk and Sabin, and the facts about the disease as it exists today. Franklin Roosevelt is part of the story, as is Olympic runner Wilma Rudolph. The book design is appealing, with wide margins and well-placed, mostly two-tone, photos. The exemplary back matter, as spaciously laid out as the text, includes an annotated bibliography, Web sites, and full notes for quotes. The Black Death, cholera, The 1918 Influenza Pandemic, and Smallpox in the New World are also now available. Hazel Rochman
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
