Plague-Busters!: Medicine's Battles with History's Deadliest Diseases

by Lindsey Fitzharris, Adrian Teal, Adrian Teal (Illustrator)

Overview

From New York Times bestselling author Lindsey Fitzharris, a riveting middle grade nonfiction book about diseases that have shaped the course of human history.

* “Chock-full of awesomely appalling medical history.” -Shelf Awareness, starred review

* “Engaging, informative, but also gross.” -School Library Journal, starred review

School Library Journal Best Book of 2023

Cybils 2023 Nonfiction Middle Grade Finalist

2024 Best STEM Books Award from National Science Teaching Association

2024 Grateful American Book Prize Honorable Mention

Smallpox! Rabies! Black Death! Throughout history humankind has been plagued by . . . well, by plagues. The symptoms of these diseases were gruesome-but the remedies were even worse.

Get to know the ickiest illnesses that have infected humans and affected civilizations through the ages. Each chapter explores the story of a disease, including the scary symptoms, kooky cures, and brilliant breakthroughs that it spawned. Medical historian and bestselling author Lindsey Fitzharris lays out the facts with her trademark wit, and Adrian Teal adds humor with cartoons and caricatures drawn in pitch black and blood red. Diseases covered in this book include bubonic plague, smallpox, rabies, tuberculosis, cholera, and scurvy.

Thanks to centuries of sickness and a host of history's most determined plague-busters, this riveting book features everything you've ever wanted to know about the world's deadliest diseases.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781547606030
Publisher:	Bloomsbury USA
Publication date:	10/10/2023
Pages:	160
Sales rank:	235,232
Product dimensions:	5.90(w) x 9.10(h) x 0.90(d)
Age Range:	8 - 12 Years

About the Author

Lindsey Fitzharris is the bestselling author of The Butchering Art and The Facemaker. Dr. Fitzharris, who holds a Ph.D. in the History of Science and Medicine from Oxford University, regularly writes for the Wall Street Journal, Scientific American, the Guardian, the Lancet, and other major publications. She is also the writer and host of the Smithsonian Channel TV series The Curious Life and Death of….

drlindseyfitzharris.com

Adrian Teal is a caricaturist, cartoonist, fine artist, and illustrator with clients around the world. His work has appeared in numerous TV shows including Spitting Image and Big Heads. He has produced art for publications such as the Sunday Telegraph, the Times, the Guardian, Time Out, and the Daily Mail.

adrianteal.com

Adrian Teal is a caricaturist, cartoonist, fine artist, and illustrator with clients around the world. His work has appeared in numerous TV shows including Spitting Image and Big Heads. He has produced art for publications such as the Sunday Telegraph, the Times, the Guardian, Time Out, and the Daily Mail.

adrianteal.com

Editorial Reviews

★ 10/01/2023

Gr 6 Up—An engaging text about the most infamous diseases that have plagued humans throughout history. Short chapters on each ailment begin with anecdotes on what life was like as the disease was inflicting the human population, or the terrible symptoms endured by sufferers. Readers will learn all the details about each illness: where it originated, outbreaks, possible causes and (often outrageous) remedies, and how the disease was eventually cured or prevented and by whom. Red sidebars include further interesting, and sometimes comical, information about the ailment at hand. For example, a man's diary revealed he wouldn't dare wear his new wig after a rumor blamed the spread of the plague on wigs made from the hair of plague victims. Chapters conclude with a section on famous deaths from each illness. Illustrations are included throughout the text. Readers will find this title engaging, informative, but also gross; the authors don't mind mentioning the "violent puking" or "runny poops" sufferers experienced. COVID-19 is missing from the text but is mentioned in the author's note. Sources, further reading, and an index are included. VERDICT Well-researched and entertaining, readers will thoroughly enjoy this stellar title.—Lisa Buffi

School Library Journal

2023-07-26
A lively illustration of the perils of illness in the olden days.

In her middle-grade debut, medical historian Fitzharris partners with her husband, Teal, to cheerfully and often humorously chronicle efforts to discover the causes of and cures for six historically fatal diseases: plague, smallpox, rabies, tuberculosis, cholera, and scurvy. Her descriptions of the discomforts and devastations of each disease, as well as the not always appreciated work of disease fighters, are enlivened by Teal’s black-and-white caricatures, accented with bold blood-red. Each chapter opens with on-the-scene action, detailing what the disease was like in its heyday. The main narrative shifts to a more traditional but chatty and informal exposition that occasionally addresses young readers directly. Full of intriguing facts and high on the “ew” factor, each chapter concludes with short biographies of famous people who were felled by that particular disease. Pullout boxes break up the text and add to the appeal. A final chapter sums up these medical struggles: “Figuring stuff out and changing minds sometimes takes centuries.” Though these epidemics were worldwide, most of the people depicted present white. The Covid-19 pandemic is mentioned only briefly a couple of times, but readers will certainly make the connection between past and present. There’s a lengthy list of sources and excellent suggestions for further reading, as might be expected from an experienced author of acclaimed science history for adults.

A relevant and timely history. (maps, index) (Nonfiction. 10-15)

Kirkus Reviews

* Plague-Busters! is chock full of awesomely appalling medical history that is sure to delight audiences, and possibly even spark interest for some future pathologists.” —Shelf Awareness, starred review

“* Engaging, informative, but also gross.” —SLJ Reviews, starred review

“Fans of Albee's Poison will feel right at home with this darkly comedic piece of nonfiction.” —The Horn Book

“An entertaining, accessible, and satisfyingly disgusting history of six diseases . . . an equally worthy choice for researchers and browsing pathologists.” —Booklist

“A lively illustration of the perils of illness in the olden days.” —Kirkus Reviews

“* An excellent biography of a genuine miracle worker.” —Kirkus Reviews (starred review), on THE FACEMAKER

“* Meticulously researched and compulsively readable.” —Publishers Weekly (starred review), on THE FACEMAKER

“This book is riveting. It is gruesome but it is also uplifting . . . What a triumph.” —Mary Roach, author of FUZZ and STIFF, on THE FACEMAKER

“Atmospheric . . . The story it tells is one of abiding fascination.” —Jennifer Senior, The New York Times, on THE BUTCHERING ART

From the Publisher