Solid background on what has become, for better or worse, a hot topic.
From variolation to today’s mRNA vaccines, the story of one of modern medicine’s great triumphs over viral diseases.
King-Cargile begins and ends with smallpox as a case study in how to eradicate a viral scourge and in between retraces a triumphal march of medical research that—notwithstanding choruses of skeptics from the 18th century on—resulted in millions of lives being saved. In clear, simple language, King-Cargile describes many types of vaccines and how they work, but her focus is on the human and historical sides of their stories (Maurice Hilleman’s development of vaccines for measles and other maladies, the rivalry between Jonas Salk and Albert Sabin)—until the end, at least, where she covers the rise of Covid-19. Here, she suddenly stops naming names and offers more generalized accounts of the Pfizer and other vaccines and the CRISPR techniques that made their quick production possible. In keeping with the positive tone of her message, she acknowledges but downplays the ominous way many viruses continually adapt to antiviral measures and, by cutting off her narrative at the end of 2020, leaves readers to look elsewhere for information about Covid variants, more recent vaccines, and ongoing anti-vax arguments and disruptions. Still, if her account is more Eurocentric than Don Brown’s A Shot in the Arm! (2021), it does offer both strong encouragement to “use your shot” and warm tributes to the dedication of researchers from Edward Jenner on. Sonke’s cartoon illustrations are more decorative than informative; group scenes include some racial diversity.
Solid background on what has become, for better or worse, a hot topic. (glossary, recommended reading) (Nonfiction. 10-13)Pub Date: Oct. 1, 2022
ISBN: 978-0-8075-8481-1
Page Count: 192
Publisher: Whitman
Review Posted Online: July 26, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2022
This glossy, colorful title in the “I Want To Be” series has visual appeal but poor organization and a fuzzy focus, which limits its usefulness. Each double-paged layout introduces a new topic with six to eight full-color photographs and a single column of text. Topics include types of environmentalists, eco-issues, waste renewal, education, High School of Environmental Studies, environmental vocabulary, history of environmentalism, famous environmentalists, and the return of the eagle. Often the photographs have little to do with the text or are marginal to the topic. For example, a typical layout called “Some Alternative Solutions” has five snapshots superimposed on a double-page photograph of a California wind farm. The text discusses ways to develop alternative forms of energy and “encourage environmentally friendly lifestyles.” Photos include “a healer who treats a patient with alternative therapy using sound and massage,” and “the Castle,” a house built of “used tires and aluminum cans.” Elsewhere, “Did You Know . . . ” shows a dramatic photo of Australia’s Great Barrier Reef, but the text provides odd facts such as “ . . . that in Saudi Arabia there are solar-powered pay phones in the desert?” Some sections seem stuck in, a two-page piece on the effects of “El Niño” or 50 postage-stamp–sized photos of endangered species. The author concludes with places to write for more information and a list of photo credits. Pretty, but little here to warrant purchase. (Nonfiction. 9-11)
Pub Date: Aug. 1, 2000
ISBN: 0-15-201862-X
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Harcourt
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2000
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
In this companion to Portraits of War: Civil War Photographers and Their Work (1998), Sullivan presents an album of the prominent ships and men who fought on both sides, matched to an engrossing account of the war's progress: at sea, on the Mississippi, and along the South's well-defended coastline. In his view, the issue never was in doubt, for though the Confederacy fought back with innovative ironclads, sleek blockade runners, well-armed commerce raiders, and sturdy fortifications, from the earliest stages the North was able to seal off, and then take, one major southern port after another. The photos, many of which were made from fragile glass plates whose survival seems near-miraculous, are drawn from private as well as public collections, and some have never been published before. There aren't any action shots, since mid-19th-century photography required very long exposure times, but the author compensates with contemporary prints, plus crisp battle accounts, lucid strategic overviews, and descriptions of the technological developments that, by war's end, gave this country a world-class navy. He also profiles the careers of Matthew Brady and several less well-known photographers, adding another level of interest to a multi-stranded survey. (source notes, index) (Nonfiction. 10-13)
Pub Date: March 1, 2001
ISBN: 0-7613-1553-5
Page Count: 80
Publisher: Twenty-First Century/Millbrook
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2001
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