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The Secret of the Yellow Death: A True Story of Medical Sleuthing
Red oozes from the patient's gums. He has a rushing headache and the whites of his eyes look like lemons. He will likely die within days.
Here is the true story of how four Americans and one Cuban tracked down a killer, one of the word's most vicious yellow fever. Set in fever-stricken Cuba, the reader feels the heavy air, smell the stench of disease, hear the whine of mosquitoes biting human volunteers during the surreal experiments. Exploring themes of courage, cooperation, and the ethics of human experimentation, this gripping account is ultimately a story of the triumph of science.
Here is the true story of how four Americans and one Cuban tracked down a killer, one of the word's most vicious yellow fever. Set in fever-stricken Cuba, the reader feels the heavy air, smell the stench of disease, hear the whine of mosquitoes biting human volunteers during the surreal experiments. Exploring themes of courage, cooperation, and the ethics of human experimentation, this gripping account is ultimately a story of the triumph of science.
112 pages, Hardcover
First published September 28, 2009
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 108 reviews
December 11, 2015
I read a boat load of MG/Kidlit non-fiction, and I have to say that this is some of the best writing and story telling that I've run across in that category.
I picked this book up at the library because I was preparing to read Laurie Andersen's FEVER, 1793. Both of my teens have read that book and it's been on my TBR forever. And I guess part of my motivation in adding THE SECRET OF THE YELLOW DEATH to my reading list was to learn more about the disease so I could determine for myself how realistic Andersen's book was.
THE SECRET OF THE YELLOW DEATH turned out to be very readable. The author, Suzanne Jurmain, tells the story of Dr. Walter Reed and his compatriots and their search in Cuba for the cause of Yellow Jack, or Yellow Fever.
She makes a mystery out of the pursuit of the cause of the disease. And she exposes the heroic efforts of the doctors and the others who volunteered to be part of the experiments. Can you imagine laying in a bed in clothes and on the sheets of people who had just died of this horrendous disease? Unwashed, the clothes stunk of the sweat and vomit of the victims but you needed to lay in them for a few days... to make sure you did or didn't get sick. How about letting a mosquito bite you who had recently bitten a patient laying in the hospital ward who you knew had the disease?
There is real heroism in this story and the author brings life to the tale. Good artwork and photos.
~library find
Accelerated Reader: 7.1 / points: 3.0
Lexile: 1010L
I picked this book up at the library because I was preparing to read Laurie Andersen's FEVER, 1793. Both of my teens have read that book and it's been on my TBR forever. And I guess part of my motivation in adding THE SECRET OF THE YELLOW DEATH to my reading list was to learn more about the disease so I could determine for myself how realistic Andersen's book was.
THE SECRET OF THE YELLOW DEATH turned out to be very readable. The author, Suzanne Jurmain, tells the story of Dr. Walter Reed and his compatriots and their search in Cuba for the cause of Yellow Jack, or Yellow Fever.
She makes a mystery out of the pursuit of the cause of the disease. And she exposes the heroic efforts of the doctors and the others who volunteered to be part of the experiments. Can you imagine laying in a bed in clothes and on the sheets of people who had just died of this horrendous disease? Unwashed, the clothes stunk of the sweat and vomit of the victims but you needed to lay in them for a few days... to make sure you did or didn't get sick. How about letting a mosquito bite you who had recently bitten a patient laying in the hospital ward who you knew had the disease?
There is real heroism in this story and the author brings life to the tale. Good artwork and photos.
~library find
Accelerated Reader: 7.1 / points: 3.0
Lexile: 1010L
February 10, 2014
I will use this great book for upper elementary and junior high students in my home school. It is a thoroughly documented and interesting book on finding the cure for yellow fever.
Dr. Walter Reed is sent to the yellow fever stricken island of Cuba- his job- to find the cause of this deadly illness. Yellow fever victims were easily diagnosed by their yellow skin, yellow eyes, bleeding gums, high temperature, and low pulse. The diagnosis was easy but finding a cure would be challenge.
With the help of three other scientists/ doctors, Dr. Reed heads up the research to find the cause. Believing the culprit is Bacillus icteroides, Dr. Reed assigns each of the men to a different aspect of research: culturing, autopsies, and microscopic study all to no avail.
One of the doctors, Jesse Lazear, was certain mosquitoes were the cause but he was not in charge and his job was to obey the orders of Dr. Reed. Finally, finally, the Reed team travels to visit the Cuban scientist, Dr. Carlos Finlay, who had devoted twenty years to his theory that a specific species of female mosquito carried yellow fever obtained from an ill person and then biting a new victim inserted the bacteria causing certain illness.
Taking a female Aedes aegypti mosquito in a test tube to the bed of a yellow fever patient, "Lazear swiftly removed the cotton plug and placed the open end of the tube flat on the patient's arm of belly, Patiently, he watched as the mosquito settled, inserted its proboscis through the skin, and sucked... then he picked up the tube... and after several days passed, he let each one of these 'infected' mosquitoes bite himself or another healthy volunteer." But nothing happened! No one got sick!
Discouraged and with the mosquitoes beginning to look sickly, Dr. Carroll allowed the sickly bug to bite him for his nourishing blood. Later that week Dr. Alva Pinto took one look at Carroll and pronounced, "yellow fever."
Was Carroll's illness simply a tragic coincidence or was it an important clue?
This book is informative, interesting and gives young readers a very good example of deductive reasoning and scientific theory and research.
Dr. Walter Reed is sent to the yellow fever stricken island of Cuba- his job- to find the cause of this deadly illness. Yellow fever victims were easily diagnosed by their yellow skin, yellow eyes, bleeding gums, high temperature, and low pulse. The diagnosis was easy but finding a cure would be challenge.
With the help of three other scientists/ doctors, Dr. Reed heads up the research to find the cause. Believing the culprit is Bacillus icteroides, Dr. Reed assigns each of the men to a different aspect of research: culturing, autopsies, and microscopic study all to no avail.
One of the doctors, Jesse Lazear, was certain mosquitoes were the cause but he was not in charge and his job was to obey the orders of Dr. Reed. Finally, finally, the Reed team travels to visit the Cuban scientist, Dr. Carlos Finlay, who had devoted twenty years to his theory that a specific species of female mosquito carried yellow fever obtained from an ill person and then biting a new victim inserted the bacteria causing certain illness.
Taking a female Aedes aegypti mosquito in a test tube to the bed of a yellow fever patient, "Lazear swiftly removed the cotton plug and placed the open end of the tube flat on the patient's arm of belly, Patiently, he watched as the mosquito settled, inserted its proboscis through the skin, and sucked... then he picked up the tube... and after several days passed, he let each one of these 'infected' mosquitoes bite himself or another healthy volunteer." But nothing happened! No one got sick!
Discouraged and with the mosquitoes beginning to look sickly, Dr. Carroll allowed the sickly bug to bite him for his nourishing blood. Later that week Dr. Alva Pinto took one look at Carroll and pronounced, "yellow fever."
Was Carroll's illness simply a tragic coincidence or was it an important clue?
This book is informative, interesting and gives young readers a very good example of deductive reasoning and scientific theory and research.
February 17, 2017
Cuba, 1900. This is a MG-level book that explores the discovery of how yellow fever is spread - basically one of those "breaking the codes" that led to numerous public health campaigns and led to more discoveries about yellow fever in the 20th century. Major Leonard Wood of the US Army spearheaded a team of doctors/scientists to look at four theories for the spread of yellow fever - a specific bacteria, the soiled remains (corpses and bedding/clothing) of yellow fever victims, something in the water/air, or contact/bites from a specific breed of mosquitos. The last theory, wild and well-mocked by most scientists around the world, was the brain-child of a Cuban doctor (Carlos Juan Finlay). Turns out Dr. Finlay's theory, down to the correct breed of mosquito, was correct - he only got recognition for this outstanding work by the experiments of Reed's team. Pictures from that time/place help give the reader a sense of environment the doctors were working in.
The book only talked about how the disease is spread; the epilogue goes through a quick time line of the medical advancements in combating the disease (still no cure, but there is a vaccine).
Recommended for upper elementary students (4th - 6th grade) to encourage them to read more non-textbook science/history of medicine books. Would make a great pairing with the MG-level fiction book Fever, 1793 by Laurie Halse Anderson.
The book only talked about how the disease is spread; the epilogue goes through a quick time line of the medical advancements in combating the disease (still no cure, but there is a vaccine).
Recommended for upper elementary students (4th - 6th grade) to encourage them to read more non-textbook science/history of medicine books. Would make a great pairing with the MG-level fiction book Fever, 1793 by Laurie Halse Anderson.
May 8, 2011
Fascinating subject! A quick, interesting read with lots of pictures. I would like to read more non-fiction like this! Our library just started a shelf called "YA non-fiction" with a few books with exciting covers like this one. I'll have to check more of them out, I suppose.
My biggest criticism is that it felt to me that the author wrote more with an elementary school audience in mind than a teenager, YA one. The tone was slightly, just slightly, condescending. But I've heard and read worse.
This book made me really appreciate people who are willing to put their lives at risk for the sake of saving others'. I can't imagine what it would be like to rub myself with stinky, soiled linen and crud from yellow fever patients and stay with that stuff in a 90 degree F room for nights! Or to let a yellow-fever-carrying mosquito suck my blood, hoping that I wouldn't get sick (yet at the same time, hoping that I would to prove the theory)!
My biggest criticism is that it felt to me that the author wrote more with an elementary school audience in mind than a teenager, YA one. The tone was slightly, just slightly, condescending. But I've heard and read worse.
This book made me really appreciate people who are willing to put their lives at risk for the sake of saving others'. I can't imagine what it would be like to rub myself with stinky, soiled linen and crud from yellow fever patients and stay with that stuff in a 90 degree F room for nights! Or to let a yellow-fever-carrying mosquito suck my blood, hoping that I wouldn't get sick (yet at the same time, hoping that I would to prove the theory)!
May 2, 2016
The author Suzanne Jurmain, tell us about how diseases like the yellow fever affected the world specifically Cuba and the United States in the 1900's. No one could figure out at the time the cause of this disease. The purpose of the author was to take us through time for us to know how life was back then, the problems they had, and what a small group of doctors could do to discover the cause.
Reading this book, made me realise how lucky we are of the advances we have. Technology allows us to know things at the time the book was written, they could have never imagined. It also made me appreciate the sacrifice people like this doctors made for us to have the knowledge we have now.
Reading this book, made me realise how lucky we are of the advances we have. Technology allows us to know things at the time the book was written, they could have never imagined. It also made me appreciate the sacrifice people like this doctors made for us to have the knowledge we have now.
May 14, 2022
From now on, if I want to learn about history, I'm reading juvenile nonfiction 😂😂
But seriously, this story was so well-written, and the research was the highest quality. The notes at the end would help you find the source of any given fact from the chapters. When I get a school library position, this is the first book I'm buying for it, whether that's middle or high school, and I would buy anything else Suzanne Jermain wrote after studying her process 🙌🏼
This must be what history people meant went they told me history has the coolest stories...still, it took Jermain's writing to get me to actually enjoy it.
But seriously, this story was so well-written, and the research was the highest quality. The notes at the end would help you find the source of any given fact from the chapters. When I get a school library position, this is the first book I'm buying for it, whether that's middle or high school, and I would buy anything else Suzanne Jermain wrote after studying her process 🙌🏼
This must be what history people meant went they told me history has the coolest stories...still, it took Jermain's writing to get me to actually enjoy it.
February 9, 2010
I don’t normally read non-fiction, but received this one in a shipment of advance copies. It held my attention and was very informative. I learned a lot about Yellow Fever, and the medical practices of the past. The pictures were great, and I would like to see the color ones instead of the black and white pictures in the advance copy. This is a great book for middle school grades. The Appendix was very useful, especially the volunteer list and the glossary of scientific terms. I have to give this one 5 stars. Excellent work Ms. Jurmain!
February 13, 2021
Book: Secret of the Yellow Death: A True Story of Medical Sleuthing
Author: Suzanne Jurmain
Language: English
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt; Illustrated edition (10 September 2013)
Paperback: 104 pages
“The young man didn't feel well. First, there was the chill: an icy, bone-freezing chill in the middle of a warm summer evening. Then there was the terrible crushing headache. His back hurt. His stomach twisted with pain. And then he was hot, boiling hot, with a fever that hovered around 104 degrees. His skin turned yellow. The whites of his eyes looked like lemons. Nauseated, he gagged and threw up again and again, spewing streams of vomit black with digested clots of blood across the pillow. Sometimes he cried out or babbled in delirium. Violent spasms jolted his body. It took two grown men to hold him in his bed as a nurse wiped away the drops of blood that trickled from his nose and mouth. Nights and mornings passed. Then, five days after that first freezing chill, the young man died: another victim of a terrible disease called yellow fever.” [Chapter 1; MEETING THE MONSTER]
Against the milieu of the Spanish-American War, Walter Reed and his team of doctors went to Cuba to study yellow fever and determine its cause.
Suzanne Jurmain infuses her writing with such vibrant and gruesome details that readers will feel they can essentially experience the fever of the stricken soldiers. see their lemon-colored eyes, and smell their polluted stench.
Though nonfiction and primarily penned for children, this book can with no trouble be valued by adult readers. Written in the style of an exemplied medical mystery, Jurmain brings to the reader the fear-provoking tale of how yellow fever crippled armies and civilian populations until the hush-hush of how the ailment spread was uncovered.
In awe-inspiring and sometimes horrendous detail, the story hastily unspools, enlightening the efforts of scientists who struggled against gigantic challenges to find a way to stop its spread.
The book has been divided into sixteen chapters and an Epilogue:
1) Meeting the Monster,
2) "Feeding the Fishes",
3) Plans,
4) Going Nowhere,
5) The First Clue?,
6) Bugs,
7) "I Have No Such Thing",
8) Delirious?,
9) "Did the Mosquito Do It?",
10) "Doctor, Are You Sick?",
11) Sorting It Out,
12) Problems,
13) "We Are Doing It for Medical Science",
14) Testing Times,
15) More Bugs,
16) Celebration,
The story begins at the end of the Spanish-American War in 1900. The American military forces occupied the island of Cuba. Tropical diseases were a principal apprehension of the government, and the American Surgeon General dispatched Major Walter Reed and a team of youthful doctors to investigate the diseases, primarily the pathogenic mechanism of yellow fever.
Reed’s team pursued a program of human experimentation by deliberately revealing human subjects, team members included, to potentially lethal vituperative material. Despite more than a few major fatalities during the experiment’s run, Reed’s experiments were a scientific success and active in establishing that yellow fever was a mosquito-borne infirmity.
Mosquito-control initiatives based on the findings were extraordinarily triumphant and began to diminish the prevalence of the violent hemorrhagic fever considerably.
Suzanne Jurmain adopts an attractive conversational tone as she describes how the doctors systematically examined the origins and spread of the illness, lastly concluding it was transmitted through mosquito bites.
Young-adult readers of all kinds, and predominantly those inclined to follow a heath-care career, will appreciate this seedy slice of medical narration.
Author: Suzanne Jurmain
Language: English
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt; Illustrated edition (10 September 2013)
Paperback: 104 pages
“The young man didn't feel well. First, there was the chill: an icy, bone-freezing chill in the middle of a warm summer evening. Then there was the terrible crushing headache. His back hurt. His stomach twisted with pain. And then he was hot, boiling hot, with a fever that hovered around 104 degrees. His skin turned yellow. The whites of his eyes looked like lemons. Nauseated, he gagged and threw up again and again, spewing streams of vomit black with digested clots of blood across the pillow. Sometimes he cried out or babbled in delirium. Violent spasms jolted his body. It took two grown men to hold him in his bed as a nurse wiped away the drops of blood that trickled from his nose and mouth. Nights and mornings passed. Then, five days after that first freezing chill, the young man died: another victim of a terrible disease called yellow fever.” [Chapter 1; MEETING THE MONSTER]
Against the milieu of the Spanish-American War, Walter Reed and his team of doctors went to Cuba to study yellow fever and determine its cause.
Suzanne Jurmain infuses her writing with such vibrant and gruesome details that readers will feel they can essentially experience the fever of the stricken soldiers. see their lemon-colored eyes, and smell their polluted stench.
Though nonfiction and primarily penned for children, this book can with no trouble be valued by adult readers. Written in the style of an exemplied medical mystery, Jurmain brings to the reader the fear-provoking tale of how yellow fever crippled armies and civilian populations until the hush-hush of how the ailment spread was uncovered.
In awe-inspiring and sometimes horrendous detail, the story hastily unspools, enlightening the efforts of scientists who struggled against gigantic challenges to find a way to stop its spread.
The book has been divided into sixteen chapters and an Epilogue:
1) Meeting the Monster,
2) "Feeding the Fishes",
3) Plans,
4) Going Nowhere,
5) The First Clue?,
6) Bugs,
7) "I Have No Such Thing",
8) Delirious?,
9) "Did the Mosquito Do It?",
10) "Doctor, Are You Sick?",
11) Sorting It Out,
12) Problems,
13) "We Are Doing It for Medical Science",
14) Testing Times,
15) More Bugs,
16) Celebration,
The story begins at the end of the Spanish-American War in 1900. The American military forces occupied the island of Cuba. Tropical diseases were a principal apprehension of the government, and the American Surgeon General dispatched Major Walter Reed and a team of youthful doctors to investigate the diseases, primarily the pathogenic mechanism of yellow fever.
Reed’s team pursued a program of human experimentation by deliberately revealing human subjects, team members included, to potentially lethal vituperative material. Despite more than a few major fatalities during the experiment’s run, Reed’s experiments were a scientific success and active in establishing that yellow fever was a mosquito-borne infirmity.
Mosquito-control initiatives based on the findings were extraordinarily triumphant and began to diminish the prevalence of the violent hemorrhagic fever considerably.
Suzanne Jurmain adopts an attractive conversational tone as she describes how the doctors systematically examined the origins and spread of the illness, lastly concluding it was transmitted through mosquito bites.
Young-adult readers of all kinds, and predominantly those inclined to follow a heath-care career, will appreciate this seedy slice of medical narration.
June 5, 2019
The book Yellow Death is a really good book for people who like medical science. For me personally, I hate medical science but after reading this book about these scientist trying to figure out the cure for the disease called Yellow Fever. The book also talks about the lives of the people that did the experiments. It also talks about the after effect of the experiments and which one ends up surviving the disease. After all, I enjoyed the book much more then I attended to. I thought I'll just read the book and bored myself to death but nope. I enjoyed it, and if you really want to be a doctor or just like to read about medical science. I would recommend this book to you.
July 21, 2017
The Secret of the Yellow Death takes the reader into Cuba with Walter Reed and his team of doctors to explore the mystery of yellow fever. The doctors explore many possibilities through scientific experiments and testing, but the only possibility that makes sense is that this disease is transmitted through mosquitoes. This nonfiction book takes the reader into Cuba's living environments, the mystery of yellow fever, and the steps in conducting a new medical discovery.
June 5, 2017
An interesting short book that tells the story of several doctors/scientists, including Walter Reed, who sought the cause of yellow fever in the late 1800's-early 1900's. Pretty amazing story of their and others' courage.
March 22, 2022
Short, easy read. Very interesting. The history of finding the source of infection, and especially good to know the Cuban doctor, Finlay, got the credit he was due for positing his theory that Yellow Fever was caused by mosquitos.
October 19, 2017
It was ok just not in-depth enough.
December 18, 2017
I love these books about medical sleuthing! Short with pictures and highly interesting! Read as my book set in Cuba for the library challenge.
December 21, 2017
it was ok.
March 20, 2018
Very easy to read, clear, and informative.
July 31, 2019
Quick, fascinating read. Learned a lot about mosquitos.
April 29, 2021
Short but interesting.
December 4, 2023
My sixth grader read excerpts of this book as part of his English class (in Amplify). I had to find out what happened!
December 10, 2023
Part of my school’s curriculum for the grade I teach. Interesting nonfiction about a topic I didn’t know much at all about.
December 14, 2023
I think this book is good and I have something due but why is it so stressful to just make an account and just read the book.
January 9, 2024
Read for work because I am required to teach it and finally read the entire book. Meh.
March 11, 2024
A bit repetitive with the information but still interesting. The photos included made a big impact as did the explanation of the amount of tests needed to prove a scientific theory.
March 27, 2024
Inspiring story! It should be a Netflix series.
March 29, 2024
3.5 / 5
January 4, 2023
In the late 1890s, scientists and doctors still did not know much about Yellow Fever. They didn't know what caused it or how it spread. There were two theories. One theory was that the micro-organism remained behind on anything the patient touched and could reinfect a new person. The other theory was that it was transmitted by mosquitos. Most people balked at the second theory.
Army doctor, Walter Reed, got the chance to solve this mystery when the U.S. Army went to Cuba during the Spanish-American war of 1898. Yellow Fever was rampant in Cuba. In order to test the theories, Reed needed human volunteers who were willing to risk contracting the disease. Amazingly, 25 men volunteered. Reed obtained clothing and mosquitoes that had come into contact with infected patients. He set up a controlled experiment in a dry part of Cuba with no mosquitos. All the volunteers who were bitten by the experimental mosquitos contracted the disease. The volunteers who wore the infected clothing did not.
Reed concluded definitively that Yellow Fever is spread through the bite of an infected mosquito. Soon after, they also concluded that the micro-organism being transmitted by the mosquito is something smaller than a bacterium because they couldn't see it with a microscope. They were getting closer to understanding the existence of viruses.
Short book. Long review. Highly recommend for kids interested in diseases. Excellent nonfiction companion to Laura Halse Anderson's book Fever 1793. Also an excellent book for science teachers who want a real world example of why scientists must always have a control group when designing an experiment.
Army doctor, Walter Reed, got the chance to solve this mystery when the U.S. Army went to Cuba during the Spanish-American war of 1898. Yellow Fever was rampant in Cuba. In order to test the theories, Reed needed human volunteers who were willing to risk contracting the disease. Amazingly, 25 men volunteered. Reed obtained clothing and mosquitoes that had come into contact with infected patients. He set up a controlled experiment in a dry part of Cuba with no mosquitos. All the volunteers who were bitten by the experimental mosquitos contracted the disease. The volunteers who wore the infected clothing did not.
Reed concluded definitively that Yellow Fever is spread through the bite of an infected mosquito. Soon after, they also concluded that the micro-organism being transmitted by the mosquito is something smaller than a bacterium because they couldn't see it with a microscope. They were getting closer to understanding the existence of viruses.
Short book. Long review. Highly recommend for kids interested in diseases. Excellent nonfiction companion to Laura Halse Anderson's book Fever 1793. Also an excellent book for science teachers who want a real world example of why scientists must always have a control group when designing an experiment.
May 17, 2016
The Secret of the Yellow Death... The title can refer to the secret inside the story, inside of the ill. The story brings to the reader the terrifying story of how yellow fever crippled armies and civilian populations until the secret of how the disease spread was uncovered. In emotional and sometimes horrifying detail, the story.
The story reveals the efforts of scientists who struggled against immense odds to find a way to stop it spred. Most remarkable are the sacrifices made by American doctors including Walter Reed, James Carroll (Reed's assistant), Jesse Lazear, and Cuban-born physician Artistides Agramonte.
The Secret of the Yellow Death is a true story of how four Americans and a Cuban were able to track down one of the most violent and contagious epidemics: the yellow fever. The tale is set in Havana, Cuba in the 19th century. The plague strikes on men, women and children showing no mercy while inflicting lots of pain and sometimes even death. The symptoms of the epidemic included high fever, chills, and yellow skin and eyes. In the story, a team of scientists travel to Cuba, risking their own lives, and aiming to find a cure for the disease. The scientists understand the dangers of their undertaking, since they have to interact closely with yellow fever victims in order to understand how the disease is transmitted. In the end, one of the scientists sacrifices himself in order to uncover the truth. The scientists find out that yellow fever is transmitted by a mosquito bite.
March 30, 2011
The Secret of The Yellow Death - A True Story of Medical Sleuthing by Suzanne Jurmain tells the story of a small group of medical doctors who try to destroy the deadly disease of Yellow Fever. Just over 100 years ago, this disease ravaged cities in the United States and Cuba. No one could figure out the source of the illness, or a cure. Determined to put a stop, this small group of doctors tackled the the disease head on in Cuba intending to save the future of this awful disease. This team tried numerous experiments. When they got something wrong, they didn’t even think about giving up and kept on trying.
I don’t really read non-fiction that much, but given the assignment to do so, I thought that I would choose a book that would seem interesting to me and was easy to understand. This book was just that! It was really interesting and somewhat inspirational. I did learn something and it was that because these doctors never gave up, they found a cure for this nasty and horrible disease that was destroying people’s lives painfully. So the lesson was to never give up, and I thought it was a great and real demonstration of that.
I would give this book a rating of 3 out of 5. This is because I don’t find non-fiction anywhere near as enjoyable as fiction or fantasy books, so it wasn’t that enjoyable to read. Although like I said, it was pretty great for an non-fiction book and really inspirational. I would recommend this to young adults who likes hearing and learning about inspirational stories!
I don’t really read non-fiction that much, but given the assignment to do so, I thought that I would choose a book that would seem interesting to me and was easy to understand. This book was just that! It was really interesting and somewhat inspirational. I did learn something and it was that because these doctors never gave up, they found a cure for this nasty and horrible disease that was destroying people’s lives painfully. So the lesson was to never give up, and I thought it was a great and real demonstration of that.
I would give this book a rating of 3 out of 5. This is because I don’t find non-fiction anywhere near as enjoyable as fiction or fantasy books, so it wasn’t that enjoyable to read. Although like I said, it was pretty great for an non-fiction book and really inspirational. I would recommend this to young adults who likes hearing and learning about inspirational stories!
December 5, 2011
Very good. There are a number of things that conspired to offer the opportunity for plenty of suspense and emotional ups and downs for a non-fiction study and the author took pretty good advantage of them. There's a violent and deadly disease; A near total lack of clues as to what causes it and the concomitant lack of comfort that the researchers themselves were not going to acquire the disease and die; (They actually took even greater risks than this indicates.) 100+ year old research methodologies - roughly equivalent to advanced high school projects; technology that doesn't even match underfunded high schools; Quite a trip.
For anyone whose curious and interested in an good overview of the subject, I found it really enlightening to come to this by way of Laurie Halse Andersons fictional account of a girl who lived through the yellow fever outbreak in Philadelphia in 1793 and Jim Murphy's non-fiction account of that same outbreak.
I've become a big fan of YA and middle grade non-fiction. I've come across a variety of specific subjects in history and science. They're written with an eye toward holding interest without giving up the objectivity required by the subject material. (That could be debatable on a couple of the books but I've been satisfied.) If you're not doing more extensive research they give a pleasingly thorough overview of a subject.
For anyone whose curious and interested in an good overview of the subject, I found it really enlightening to come to this by way of Laurie Halse Andersons fictional account of a girl who lived through the yellow fever outbreak in Philadelphia in 1793 and Jim Murphy's non-fiction account of that same outbreak.
I've become a big fan of YA and middle grade non-fiction. I've come across a variety of specific subjects in history and science. They're written with an eye toward holding interest without giving up the objectivity required by the subject material. (That could be debatable on a couple of the books but I've been satisfied.) If you're not doing more extensive research they give a pleasingly thorough overview of a subject.
Read
May 3, 2016For centuries, the yellow death had been a mysterious illness with no cure or known cause. Thousands of people had died due to this disease. In the 1900's, after the U.S. won the war against Spain, the Cuban territory was infested with the disease. Four American doctors were sent to Cuba to find the cause of this deadly illness. Throughout a period of approximately 8 months the four American doctors: Walter Reed, James Carroll, Aristides Agramonte, and Jesse W. Lazear researched and worked intensively to find what exactly caused yellow fever.
From this book I learned that the spread of the yellow fever was by a particular kind of mosquito, a striped insect called Aedes aegypti. Also, only female mosquitos can transmit the disease by inserting their proboscis and depositing infected saliva into the wound. After a mosquito is infected, every cell of the insect's body is taken over by the disease. The germs have to stay in the mosquito's body for at least 12 days before it can be passed onto another victim.
The purpose of this book is to inform people of the efforts, dedication, and lengths that people are willing to go through in order to help the world. If it weren't for those four brave American doctors, the yellow fever might still be a threat to humans today.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 108 reviews