Ambushed!: The Assassination Plot Against President Garfield (Medical Fiascoes)

Jonas Salk

Invincible Microbe: Tuberculosis and the Never-Ending Search for a Cure

Terrible Typhoid Mary: A True Story of the Deadliest Cook in America

Plague!: Epidemics and Scourges Through the Ages (The Sickening History of Medicine)

What's a Germ, Joseph Lister?

Secret of the Yellow Death: A True Story of Medical Sleuthing

From Leeches to Slug Glue: 25 Explosive Ideas that Made (and Are Making) Modern Medicine

Medical Fiascoes Series

Included on NPR's 2022 "Books We Love" ListFinalist, 2023 YALSA Award for Excellence in Nonfiction ALSC Notable Children's BookWhat made workers in the American South so tired and feeble during the 19th and early 20th centuries? This exciting medical mystery uncovers the secrets of the parasite hookworm, commonly known as the "American Murderer," and is the latest title in Gail Jarrow's (YALSA Excellence in Nonfiction for Young Adults award-winning author) Medical Fiascoes series.Imagine microscopic worms living in the soil. They enter your body through your bare feet, travel to your intestines, and stay there for years sucking your blood like vampires. You feel exhausted. You get sick easily. It sounds like a nightmare, but that's what happened in the American South during the 1800s and early 1900s. Doctors never guessed that hookworms were making patients ill, but zoologist Charles Stiles knew better. Working with one of the first public health organizations, he and his colleagues treated the sick and showed Southerners how to protect themselves by wearing shoes and using outhouses so that the worms didn't spread. Although hookworm was eventually controlled in the US, the parasite remains a serious health problem throughout the world. The topic of this STEM book remains relevant and will fascinate readers interested in medicine, science, history-and gross stories about bloodsucking creatures.

Discover Your Child's Next Read

Ambushed!: The Assassination Plot Against President Garfield (Medical Fiascoes)

Gail Jarrow, 2021

Jonas Salk

Marjorie Curson, 1990

Invincible Microbe: Tuberculosis and the Never-Ending Search for a Cure

Jim Murphy, Alison Blank, 2012

Terrible Typhoid Mary: A True Story of the Deadliest Cook in America

Abbey Campbell Cook, Susan Campbell Bartoletti, 2015

Plague!: Epidemics and Scourges Through the Ages (The Sickening History of Medicine)

John Farndon, 2017

What's a Germ, Joseph Lister?

Daniel Duncan, Lori Alexander, 2023

Secret of the Yellow Death: A True Story of Medical Sleuthing

Suzanne Tripp Jurmain, Suzanne Jurmain, 2009

From Leeches to Slug Glue: 25 Explosive Ideas that Made (and Are Making) Modern Medicine

Roopa Pai, 2019