All in the name of public health

But tell that to Mary Mallon aka Typhoid Mary.

I’ve had two recently published books about Mary on my to-read pile for a while and finally got to them over the holidays.  (Not the most chipper reading, for sure, but entirely fascinating, nonetheless.)

 The two books are:

Fatal fever: tracking down Typhoid Mary by Gail Jarrow

Terrible Typhoid Mary: a true story of the deadliest cook inAmerica by Susan Campbell Bartoletti.

Both books cover pretty much the same content: an outbreak of typhoid that is tracked down by a vigilant and somewhat obsessive sanitary engineer, Dr. George Soper to a household cook, Mary Mallon.

Mary is identified as a healthy carrier of the typhoid bacteria. She is able to contaminate raw food when she prepares it for the families she works for, making them sick and killing a couple of them over a period of years. She is eventually apprehended, tested and quarantined at a hospital on an island in the East River between Queens and the Bronx. She lives there for three years until the health department releases her when she promises not to cook for other people. She struggles for a few years doing other types of work but eventually returns to cooking at a hospital only to infect newborn babies and mothers. She is returned to North Brother Island where she lives until 1938.

The tension in the story is the balance between personal rights and liberty and public health.

The most interesting part of this for me was reading the two books back-to-back. Starting with Susan Campbell Bartoletti’s book, Terrible Typhoid Mary, (I have found her books about the KKK and Hitler Youth fascinating), I anticipated a strongly told narrative about Mary Mallon’s trials and tribulations. The book attempts to make Mary a real person and tries to get us to empathize with her. And I did get there in part. Bartoletti doesn’t down play that Mary created some of her own problems. Mary knowingly went back to cooking for others knowing the consequences.  Nevertheless, a good part of her life was lived fairly isolated.

It wasn’t until I read the second book, Fatal Fever, that I realized that Bartoletti’s book, Terrible Typhoid Mary, had gone further in suggesting that Mary Mallon, despite her noncompliance and resistance to testing, had not been treated fairly.  Other healthy carriers had been identified but not incarcerated and isolated like Mary.

In Terrible Typhoid Mary, it is also suggested that she was given experimental medical treatments to see if she could be cured, whereas other carriers were not experimented on. In Bartoletti’s book, Soper comes across as especially diligent and perhaps biased against Mary describing her more like a man than a woman because of her fiery temper (she threatened him with a sharp carving fork when he asked to test her blood, urine and feces), her strength, and use of rough language saying “her mind had a distinctly masculine character” (p.45). Because Mary didn’t fit society’s or Soper’s ideal of a woman, this may have biased him against her.

Bartoletti also emphasizes that by identifying the first healthy carrier of the typhoid bacteria he had an opportunity to make a name for himself.  After Mary was quarantined and living on North Brother Island, he spoke at public engagements and published works about Mary’s case.

In Fatal Fever, aspects of Soper’s work are framed differently by not including the information about his perceptions about Mary and down playing his seeming desire for public fame. His passion for finding people like Mary was for the benefit of public health.

Both books are referenced in-depth, with footnotes, bibliographies and indexes. Bartoletti’s book also includes a timeline.  I liked the layout of Jarrow’s Fatal Fever and think students will find it a little more appealing because of interspersed illustrations and photographs and white space framing the text. Bartoletti’s book has the pictures mostly grouped into a section at the back of the book.

Still the question remains: how far in the interests of public health should an individual’s right be protected when others can be placed in jeopardy?

I recommend both books be used together to compare the way the same information is used but framed differently.  Both books would be suitable for grades 7 and up.

Walking in someone else’s shoes

John Marsden can certainly set a scene that makes you think – “What would I do if this happened to me?”

With so much in the news about Syrian refugees, Home and Away by John Marsden is a book that’s timely to post about.  His book really brings home the ‘me’ part of my question.  What would I do if this was happening to me and my family?

This is not an easy book with a happy ending. 

We are introduced to a typical Australian family (though there’s little that identifies them as specifically Australian) Mom, Dad, Claire, Toby, Grandma (who lives next door) and an unnamed narrator.

Initially, our narrator documents briefly a few defining things about each family member so we can get a sense of who they are, their hopes and dreams and includes a family picture. We get a glimpse of a typical day of everyone busy with their work or school day.

And then the war starts.

Within a couple of months food becomes desperately difficult to find.  A few weeks later, Toby becomes sick, Claire doesn’t speak and Mom and Grandma are shadows of themselves.  They are reduced to eating roadkill and scavenging in abandoned gardens.

By the fifth month, Dad has made arrangements, at great expense, to get the family out and to a country where they’ll be safe with plenty of food and medical care. Escaping their war torn home means taking a leaky boat filled with strangers to a distant place called Hollania.  They spend 11 days seemingly adrift with few resources where even a few scraps of fish can cost a life. When they see another boat they think they will be rescued but that is not the case.  The naval vessel is there to drive them away but because the boat is in such bad shape they are allowed to land and are taken to an isolated camp in the middle of a desert. The government doesn’t want to encourage more illegal immigrants from coming so provides minimal care. Others say that these people aren’t really desperate refugees and are there to make money.  And then there are those who do provide the detainees with some help and kindness. People die including some of the family members we’ve gotten to know at every stage of this drama.

Sound familiar?

None of this is new.  We’re reading about people like this in the news right now. What is different is the family is from a country like our own.  The author and illustrator have made this narrative where we can easily place ourselves. The illustrations are often dark and bleak.  Some of them are drawn in crayon as if by five-year old Toby and show us what he sees if not how he’s making sense of it all; lots of planes flying overhead, explosions and dead bodies.

The diary entries are brief and intermittent bringing us up-to-date about what’s happening in a very matter-of-fact way.  Being so matter-of-fact made reading the story bearable. I was adding my own layers of emotion and understanding as I read through the book.  I kept going back over the timeline to see how quickly normal life breaks down when all our conveniences are taken away. Life quickly becomes very basic – food, water, safety.  Also, this story shows just how tenuous life really is and how much we take for granted. I’m having a difficult time imagining losing a father in the manner described in this story. The mental toll that this situation takes on everyone: Toby’s conviction that he’s done something bad (killed everyone) and that’s the reason he’s living in prison and Claire’s confinement in a psychiatric ward keeps coming back to me. 

So, the question is what would you do if this happened to you?

I’m recommending this as a terrific, powerful and difficult classroom resource for grades 5 or 6 and up.

Holiday Cheer

Well, the holiday break is almost upon us here at the University of Calgary and the only list I'm checking at this point is the one in my head for the  books coming home with me from the library.

Winter's Candle by Jeron Frame

And as expected, the list keeps changing and growing.  I mean really...how many books can a person read in two weeks with company coming, meals to plan and shop for and then cook, puzzle-making, movie-watching, and dinner-settling walks?  Apparently, many....Many, many, many.

Marguerite's Christmas by India Desjardins

A Gift by Yong Chen

Can't wait!

Wishing you much holiday cheer celebrating the traditions that bring you joy.

Happy New Year, Everyone.

Tammy

The Christmas Coat by Virginia Driving Hawk Sneve

Holiday shopping list

If you work with children's literature you've probably been asked once or twice (at least) what would be a good book for a daughter, son, grandchild, niece, nephew, 13 year-old boy who doesn't like to read and only wants to play video games, etc. at this time of year.

This year co-worker Paula and I spent some time at a local bookstore browsing the shelves looking for titles to add to a list that we would circulate to our co-workers and students with recommended titles for this year's gift giving season.

It was great fun adding familiar favourites and discovering a couple of new titles along the way for ages 4 to 18. Dividing books into groups was fun too as it allowed us the freedom to classify by types of readers not just by age. The list was long enough that we decided publishing it in sections over four days would be less overwhelming.

If you're curious (or perhaps, desperate) to see what made our list click on Recommended Literature for the 2015 Holidays.

Some of my personal favourites include:

Sam and Dave Dig a Hole by Mac Barnett, illustrated by Jon Klassen



I Really Like Slop (Elephant and Piggie series) by Mo Willems




The Day the Crayons Came Home by D. Daywalt





Hold Me Closer: the Tiny Cooper Story by David Levithan



Erebos by Ursula Poznanski



Popular: a Memoir, Vintage Wisdom for the Modern Geek by M. Van Wagenen



The Marvels by Brian Selznick



Truth Commission by Susan Juby





Book with a Hole by Herve Tullet





Wet Dog by Sophie Gamand

 If you're not in the market to buy books but still want to pick up a couple of our recommendations, stop by the Doucette Library.  We do have most of these titles.

Happy shopping!

Answers the question “When would I ever use this in real life?”

In this week’s blog I’d like to draw your attention to a series of books called You Do the Math.

There are four books that embed mathematics into real life situations such as designing a skyscraper or heading out into space or solving a crime or flying a jet fighter.

I think the books will initially appeal to many kids because of the topics and the graphic novel approach in telling the ‘story’. The ‘stories’ are not the best part of these books but I don’t think that was their intent.  I think the best thing about them is taking interesting situations and showing how mathematics is used in real world applications.  Each book is illustrated with a consistent narrator who accompanies the reader and poses them math questions in every two-page spread.

The questions are supposed to be answered by the reader and if they have some understanding of the concepts involved then it’s likely they will be able to answer them.  (Answers are available for each question at the back of the book.  There are no explanations as to how answers were derived.) Working with many facets of geometry, algebra, basic computation, ratios, decimals, etc. is required to solve the problems posed by our narrators.  The books don’t focus on any single mathematical topic but use whatever skill is required to answer the problem for that particular situation.

For example, when designing and building a skyscraper it’s important to know how its shape and height (number of floors) is best understood using geometry. Selecting a suitable building site requires assessing and interpreting data related to physical features of the site and coordinates. The actual building stage requires digging a foundation and determining appropriate building materials that necessitates basic computational skills.  Within the skyscraper there will be offices, apartments, restaurants, hotels and stores all having unique needs for electricity and plumbing again determined using basic computations. And so on.

Data is displayed as various charts, tables, timelines and maps requiring the skill to understand how the information is organized and then interpreting it.

All four books are written by Hilary Koll and Steve Mills and include these titles:

Design a skyscraper

Fly a jet fighter

Launch a rocket into space

Solve a crime

Bringing these volumes into a math class, grades 5-8 perhaps, would offer a different approach to teaching some of these concepts by showing a real world application. Some of the math concepts may not be familiar with students and will have to be taught.  But bringing these titles into science and STEM classrooms would also be beneficial as a way to engage students using math and in real life situations. 

So, what’s with crayons?

Once upon a time there was a crayon.

It all started with Harold’sPurple Crayon.  It was fun being with Harold as he drew his way through his travels over mountains and oceans still to be cozily tucked into bed at the end of the day. 

(I’m almost certain that Harold’s purple crayon is related to the purple crayon in Aaron Becker’s  Journey  &  Quest  books.  It, too, has a marvelous sense of adventure in exotic, imaginary places but likes to chum with a red crayon.)

Then there was the Bad Day at Riverbend.  It really should be known as the ‘Worst Day Ever at Riverbend' because really, what could be worse that being scribbled and scrawled all over with smacks of waxy colour? But the befuddled Sheriff and his posse don’t have to worry for too long as the book is closed on this mysterious event by the day’s end.

But then we had deal with The Day the Crayons Quit. My, that was quite a day.  Goodness! So many demands to be met (Red was overworked, White was underappreciated and poor Beige got all the boring jobs) but we managed and all was well.  

Until of course, The Day the Crayons Came Home.  Who knew that these guys could get to so many places and have so many misadventures along the way? Directionally challenged Neon Red makes it back in one piece, though Tan (or is it Burnt Sienna) is a little worse for wear having been eaten and regurgitated by the dog. And I’m happy to report that Yellow and Orange have worked out their differences amicably which is a good thing because they’ve been melted by the sun into one blob.

But Snap! , we’re back with another artist whose imagination is unleashed when he’s crayons break and then begin to be used up. His artistic resourcefulness only leads to more lavish and unrestrained creations.  Who knows where he’ll land for his next foray into the world of art?

And lastly, we can’t forget about Red.  Poor Red he does have a time of it figuring out who he really is and why, even trying his very hardest to succeed, he always ends up blue. But with help from his friend Berry he finally finds his place among all the colors by being true to himself.

There’s obviously something about crayons. 

Besides being the number one choice of colouring implement at the colouring station in the Doucette Library the above books featuring crayons are typically quirky characters having wild adventures.  Just like the colouring station, any of these books will prove to be great stress busters.

Colour me happy.

The Books

 (in order of appearance:)

Harold and his purple crayon by Crockett Johnson

Journey by Aaron Becker

Quest by Aaron Becker

Bad day at Riverbend by Chris Van Allsburg

The day the crayons quit by Drew Daywalt

The day the crayons came home by Drew Daywalt

Snap! by Hazel Hutchins

Red: a crayon's story by Michael Hall