About book Deadly How Do You Catch An Invisible Killer? (2011)
I enjoyed this book, but I am probably too fascinated with plagues and germs. I had taken a class last year where we studied Typhoid Mary briefly. This book weaves fiction and reality - many of the characters were actually real people who worked on her case. This book just gives Typhoid Mary what history has failed to - a face and emotions. Whether she was aware or not that she was carrying around the deadly germs that sickened many and killed a few, we will never know. This book is definitely worth a read. Good YA selection. I thought it was a mystery when I chose it to read; but this is more historical fiction and dealing with how society dealt with medical issues, disease, and limited the choices of women. Set in 1906 and told from the viewpoint of a 16 year old girl who becomes an assistant to Soper, the man who is tracking down a typhoid fever epidemic. It did not take me long to figure out it was a story dealing with the discovery of Typhoid Mary. Although more detail could have been added it is fast moving story which should capture the interest of YA who like historical fiction, medical mysteries. I think students will enjoy this and perhaps encourage them to look for a bit more information if they want to know more about how it spreads and how it is treated today. Thankfully, today we have better hygiene and an understanding of how disease it transmitted. One issue it clearly showed was the discrimination of women and how they had few choices in occupations and education. I hope we have made advances but know we still have more to accomplish to gain equality for women in all fields. Recommend.
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Young adult book I previewed for my classroom. Not something I'll read to fourth graders.
—Jacky
