Fatal Fever by Gail Jarrow

​In 1907, an outbreak of Typhoid rips through New York. In the process, three monumental people in the middle of the outbreak are brought together. In this narrative, the lives of George Albert Soper, a typhoid expert, and Sarah Josephine Baker, a doctor working for the New York Department of Health, come barreling into Mary Mallon, an immigrant cook from Ireland. Mary is one tough chick. Not only does she not succumb to the infectious disease living in her body, but she also runs from the New York City Department of Health when they come knocking on her door. The way she adamantly denies having anything to do with the outbreaks is tenacious. Mary insists she is innocent and being imprisoned on North Brother Island for no reason. However, she has shown she will not adhere to the recommendations of the public health officials and resign her position as a cook. In this nonfiction narrative, readers will find primary sources from the time period, a glossary, timelines, and references to the way sanitation played a role in the outbreak. 

Readers will enjoy the page turner about turn of the century overhauls on the way consumers use sanitation and water treatment facilities. Even more, the way waterways are polluted with feces and human waste. The way in which Jarrow suggests many of the infections could have been prevented just by hand washing makes any reader want to invest in hand sanitizer by the case. The transfer of bacteria and the way human waste traveled to the waterways was almost unbelievable partly because society has evolved so much in the past 100 years in regard to immunizations, hygiene, and sanitation. Recommended for ages 10 and up.

365 Days of Wonder: Mr. Browne's Book of Precepts

Mr. Browne and his precepts are back.  In a spin off of the book, Wonder, R.J. Palacio creates a companion novel to include 365 precepts compiled to live our lives with more kindness, compassion, and empathy.  In this novel, readers learn about Mr. Browne and the history and reason for his precepts.  Each month of the year has a precept per day.  In between the months, Mr. Browne includes insights including why precepts are used, students’ precepts and the questions stemming from them, and even anecdotes about his own family and how the precepts have affected or impacted them.  Characters emerge from the first book including Auggie Pullman, Julian Albans, summer and Charlotte.  

Use alone or as a companion to Wonder, this book would be perfect to include in a class meeting setting, creative writing, or even a student group based on bullying. Educators can utilize the precepts as a thought a day, asking students to expound on what the precept means to them.  In essay form or as an open ended response, students could relate the quote or excerpt to their own lives, employing a text to self connection. Not necessarily solely for education, this book could also serve parents who hope to invoke a sense of empathy in their own children, discussing the precepts and their meaning.     

My Side by Norah McClintock

My Side by Norah McClintock

This book was impossible to put down.  Told from both Addie and Neely's point of view, this is a mean girl story.  Addie is shy and quiet.  Neely is her only friend.  Until they reach high school, the girls do a lot together.  Once in high school, Neely is trying to impress the popular girls. Addie becomes the butt of a cruel and damaging prank.  Once the video is emailed to everyone, Addie struggles to come back to school.  Great read and less than 130 pages!

Zebra Forest by Adina Rishe Gewirtz

Zebra Forest by Adina Rishe Gewirtz

In this novel, two siblings, Rew and Annie are being raised by Gran.  Gran has told them about their parents.  Annie and Rew, living in the rural part of their town, are growing up during the Iran Hostage Crisis when a prison break occurs on the other side of their Zebra Forest.  A prisoner shows up at their house and keeps them hostage.  They are not expecting to hear the secrets he is spilling.  Andrew Snow is an unexpected, but not unwelcome guest.  The characters in this novel are not flat, but grow with the plot.

White Zone by Carolyn Marsden

White Zone by Carolyn Marsden

Two cousins, Nouri and Talib, are tangled in the religious strife in Iraq in 2008 between the Sunnis and the Shiites.  The cousins are torn in this war, dealing with normal teen issues of bullying and fitting in. When one of the boys has to move away, the cousins look toward an Iraq where they were both were equal and friends. The story, based on true events, relays the strength of family and the bonds of loyalty to your roots. Marsden tells the story from each boys' perspective, allowing readers inside the character to know how each one feels.

Road Trip by Gary and Jim Paulsen

Road Trip by Gary and Jim Paulsen

Gary Paulsen and his son, Jim, began writing back and forth and what emerged from the banter was a novel about a boy whose father takes him on a fun road trip. This lighthearted novel is about a boy named Ben and his father who have been at odds for some time. Told from Ben's point of view, the road trip's purpose is to pick up a rescue dog.  When his dad breaks the news to Ben, he is less than thrilled, so is the other family dog, Atticus. When their ride breaks down, Ben, his dad, and Theo, Ben's derelict friend, have to find another way to get where they are going.  The story is their adventure and all those people and events along the way. It is told in traditional Paulsen style with adventure, humor and a love of animals. Great quick read.

Under the Persimmon Tree by Suzanne Fisher Staples

Under the Persimmon Tree by Suzanne Fisher Staples

After her brother and father are taken by the Taliban to fight in a war and her baby brother and mother are killed in an air raid, Najmah, a young Afghan girl is on her own. An American woman, Nusrat, who has given up her successful life in Boston to marry her Pakistani husband, teaches refugee children in her home while her husband, a doctor, is on the war front helping to fight the Taliban.  Staples brings these two characters in parallel situations together in a desperate story of two stars that collide.