Horrors of History: People of the Plague
T. Neill Anderson, author
T. Neill Anderson is fascinated—and often horrified—by the countless true tales of America’s past stories. The Horrors of History series are his first books for young readers. He lives and writes in Brooklyn, New York.
Read more about T. Neill Anderson.
Booklist
Anderson tells the tale of Harriet, Harry, and Barium, who live in South Philadelphia during the Spanish influenza pandemic that swept the globe in 1918. The crowded and often filthy tenement houses of urban neighborhoods and emergency hospitals that sprung up around Philadelphia during the height of the epidemic provide the backdrop as the protagonists come to terms with the loss of their parents to the virus. Many of the characters are fictionalized composites of real-life survivors, whereas others, such as Philadelphia physician Wilmer Krusen and mayor Thomas Smith, are real-life portrayals. Charts and maps of historical data share space with the fictional dialogue and plot twists, and period black-and-white photographs of the sick and dying, masked stretcher-bearers, and exhausted gravediggers punctuate the fast-paced narrative, providing an unflinching look at the horrors of the seemingly unstoppable virus. This typifies the historical novel that walks the fine line between fact and fiction.
Hardcover
ISBN: 978-1-58089-518-7
E-book
ISBN: 978-1-60734-542-8 EPUB
ISBN: 978-1-60734-641-8 PDF
Ages: 12 and up
Page count: 160
6 x 9
Correlated to Common Core State Standards:
English Language Arts-Literacy. Reading Literature. Grade 6. Standards 1-6 and 10.
English Language Arts-Literacy. Reading Literature. Grade 7. Standards 1-4, 6, 9, and 10.
English Language Arts-Literacy. Reading Literature. Grade 8. Standards 1-4, 6, and 10.
Enlgish Language Arts-Literacy. Literacy in History/Social Studies. Grades 6-8. Standards 1, 4-8, and 10.