Common Core & NGSS

STEM Tuesday — Pair Up! Comparing Nonfiction Titles — Writing Craft and Resources

By on September 18, 2018   /   Common Core & NGSS, Curriculum Tie-in, Nonfiction Titles, STEM Tuesday  

Going Deep

Today we are diving deep into two books that intrigue me. Books about a horrific medical epidemic. Books that both use narrative and expository plus characters to carry readers through the story. Books that plunge into history and science plus ethical and moral questions.

Fatal Fever: Tracking Down Typhoid Mary, by Gail Jarrow

Terrible Typhoid Mary: A True Story of the Deadliest Cook in America, by Susan Campbell Bartoletti

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Here’s a quick recap. In the early 1900s Mary Mallon carried typhoid but didn’t display any of the symptoms. She worked as a cook, was definitively linked to the infections of 49 people plus three deaths, was quarantined for decades, and became the brunt of a tabloid scandal. Both books look at the entangled story of her life, medical professionals who tracked her down, legal charges against her, and implications for constitutional rights.

 

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In two books on the same topic, published in the same year, written with similar audiences in mind, there is much to compare and contrast. What I find most intriguing is that both bring the science and history to light while posing enduring questions.

Dive In

Let’s look at how these books each handle one of those enduring questions. Get ready for some close reading!

After years of quarantine, Mary was finally released on parole. The terms of her release specified that she take precautions to not infect others, not work as a cook, and report regularly to the health department. But Mary broke those terms, resulting in another major outbreak and her own exile until death. The question these authors chase: Why did she risk it?

Turn to pages 133-135 of Terrible Typhoid Mary and Page 118-120 of Fatal Fever to read the texts. Here are some things to look for. I’ve included a few things I noticed and am eager to hear what you discover.

Whose story is told first?

  • Fatal Fever:
    • “Mary had no lawyer to help her.”
  • Terrible Typhoid Mary
    • “Mary never said why she broke the conditions . . .”

What words are chosen to set the tone?

  • Fatal Fever:
    • “A Witch!”
  • Terrible Typhoid Mary
    • “. . . she struggled . . .”

In what way are other characters’ reactions used? Do those reactions support or denigrate Mary’s choice?

  • Fatal Fever:
    • “The sympathy that people once felt toward Mallon evaporated.”
  • Terrible Typhoid Mary
    • “Her temerity galled Soper.”

What words or phrases convey doubt or leave interpretation open?

  • Fatal Fever:
    • “Maybe she didn’t see the harm in it, . . .”
  • Terrible Typhoid Mary
    • “Is it possible that Mary simply didn’t understand . . .”

Are you caught up in this conundrum? Of how Mary, who had been presented as a person who stepped in to care for children when needed, could do such a thing? I am.

Where do these passages leave you emotionally? Did the balance between narrative and expository impact your reaction? Does either passage affect you more? Why?

On Your Own

Now, pursue a similar close reading on your own. There are plenty of other parallel topics in these books. Try the discussion of gall bladder removal: Fatal Fever (page 93) and Terrible Typhoid Mary (pages 136-137).

How do these authors use sequencing, language, and other characters? How do their skillful use of nonfiction devices impact you as a reader?

—-

By Heather L. Montgomery

Heather L. Montgomery writes for kids who are WILD about animals. Her latest book, Bugs Don’t Hug: Six-Legged Parents and Their Kids, is a perfect picturebook for a close read.

www.HeatherLMontgomery.com

The O.O.L.F. Files

Resources for Writers

https://www.rhymezone.com/

This site might have been designed with rhyming in mind but it has many other uses. Need a thesaurus? Angling for alliterative words? Looking for lyrics? Rhymezone’s got you covered.

https://www.google.com/alerts

Needing to go deep on a topic? Set up a Google alert on your topic. Day after day it will deliver the freshest posts straight to your inbox.

http://www.bluebulbprojects.com/MeasureOfThings/default.php

When you need a measurement comparison, The Measure of Things is your best friend! How large is 110 cubic inches?

  • 9/10th the size of a human stomach
  • 1/3rd the size of a bowling ball
  • 1 1/10th the size of an ostrich egg!
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STEM Tuesday — Pair Up! Comparing Nonfiction Titles — Booklist

By on September 4, 2018   /   Common Core & NGSS, Nonfiction, STEM Tuesday  

This month, we take a look at pairs of books that focus on the same subject or theme. Readers can compare and contrast how authors have each approached these fascinating stories to craft their nonfiction middle grade books. In some cases authors have taken a different approach in organization and in others a different point of view. Reading both will provide more details and information on each topic, and also show that all authors find their own way into each story.

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Mary Mallon, known as Typhoid Mary, unwittingly spread the deadly disease as a cook. Read two nonfiction titles that tell this amazing story.

Fatal Fever: Tracking Down Typhoid Mary by Gail Jarrow tells the investigative story behind the tale. 

Terrible Typhoid Mary by Susan Campbell Bartoletti approaches the story as a biography. 

 

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The history of chocolate is important to both science and history. These two authors have provided books that delve into chocolate’s origins and its history as the confection we love.

Chocolate: Sweet Science & Dark Secrets of the World’s Favorite Treat by Kay Frydenborg 

The Book of Chocolate: The Amazing Story of the World’s Favorite Candy by HP Newquist

 

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If learning about scavengers (and the important part they play in the food chain) is up your alley, then these two new titles are for you.

Rotten:  Vultures, Beetles, Slime, and Nature’s Other Decomposers by Anita Sanchez will be released in January of 2019 and delves into all kinds of decomposers. 

Death Eaters:  Meet Nature’s Scavengers by Kelly Milner Halls also focuses on decomposition and provides lots of interesting photos.   

 

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Tracking Trash: Flotsam, Jetsam, and the Science of Ocean Motion by Loree Griffin Burns focuses on how ocean currents move debris around

Plastic, Ahoy! Investigating the Great Pacific Garbage Patch by Patricia Newman follows a team of scientists who study the Great Pacific Garbage Patch for the first time.

This Book Stinks! Gross Garbage, Rotten Rubbish, and the Science of Trash by Sarah Wassner Flynn dives deep into the cycle of trash.

 

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These two titles provide a look at how dogs use their perfect sniffers to help us.

Poop Detectives: Working Dogs in the Field by Ginger Wadsworth focuses on conservation canines.

Sniffer Dogs: How Dogs (and their Noses) Save the World by Nancy Castaldo introduces readers to all kinds of sniffer detection dogs. 

 

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Two great volcano titles for geology units.

Eruption: Volcanoes and the Science of Saving Lives by Elizabeth Rusch deals with the science of eruption. 

Life on Surtsey: Iceland’s Upstart Island by Loree Griffin Burns focuses on the aftermath. 

 

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Budding naturalists will love learning about how apes are studied in the wild with these two titles.

Gorilla Doctors: Saving Endangered Great Apes by Pamela S. Turner

Untamed: The Wild Life of Jane Goodall by Anita Silvey

 

STEM Tuesday book lists prepared by:

Nancy Castaldo has written books about our planet for over 20 years including her 2016 title, THE STORY OF SEEDS: From Mendel’s Garden to Your Plate, and How There’s More of Less To Eat Around The World, which earned the Green Earth Book Award and other honors. Nancy’s research has taken her all over the world from the Galapagos to Russia. She enjoys sharing her adventures, research, and writing tips. She strives to inform, inspire, and educate her readers. Nancy also serves as the Regional Advisor of the Eastern NY SCBWI region. Her 2018 title is BACK FROM THE BRINK: Saving Animals from Extinction. www.nancycastaldo.com

Patricia Newman writes middle-grade nonfiction that inspires kids to seek connections between science, literacy, and the environment. The recipient of  a Sibert Honor Award for Sea Otter Heroes and the Green Earth Book Award for Plastic, Ahoy!, her books have received starred reviews, been honored as Junior Library Guild Selections, and included on Bank Street College’s Best Books lists. New in 2018:  Eavesdropping on Elephants: How Listening Helps Conservation. During author visits, she demonstrates how her writing skills give a voice to our beleaguered environment. Visit her at www.patriciamnewman.com.

 

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STEM Tuesday–Checking Your Health– Interview with Author Gail Jarrow

By on August 28, 2018   /   Common Core & NGSS, Curriculum Tie-in, STEM Tuesday  

Welcome to STEM Tuesday: Author Interview & Book Giveaway, a repeating feature for the fourth Tuesday of every month. Go Science-Tech-Engineering-Math!

Today we’re interviewing Gail Jarrow about her Deadly Diseases Trilogy: Red Madness, Fatal Fever, and Bubonic Panic. Both Red Madness and Bubonic Panic are among this month’s featured health and medicine books. Gail is an author of nonfiction books for ages 8-18 about science and history (and the history of science). Her books have received many honors, including the YALSA Award Nomination for Excellence in Nonfiction, a Notable Social Studies Trade Book, Outstanding Science Trade Book, a NSTA Best STEM book, the Jefferson Cup Award, the Eureka! Gold Award, an Orbis Pictus Recommendation, as well as Kirkus Reviews and School Library Journal Best Books and VOYA Honor Book distinctions.

                

Mary Kay Carson: How did these books come about?

Gail Jarrow: It all started with a chance discovery in the Cornell University library stacks.  While researching scurvy for a magazine article, I spotted a shelved book on pellagra written by a Cornell professor I had met. Even though the book wasn’t about my topic, I took it home to read because I knew her. I was fascinated by this forgotten nutritional deficiency disease that had once affected millions of Americans, and I sensed it would make an interesting story for young readers. But pellagra turned out to be one of those ideas you file away until you can figure out how to approach the subject. I didn’t figure it out for a dozen years. After online databases made it easier to access old medical journals and hundreds of newspapers from the early twentieth century, I saw a way to write Red Madness as a medical mystery using the experiences of doctors and pellagra victims. As part of my pellagra research, I used U.S. Public Health Service reports from the early 1900s.  I came across many entries about typhoid fever and plague, two other epidemic diseases that the Public Health Service was trying to control then. That was how Fatal Fever and Bubonic Panic were born from Red Madness, completing the Deadly Diseases trilogy. It goes to show that new ideas can be hiding anywhere and it pays to be receptive to them.

MKC: I have to ask, which of three deadly diseases—plague, typhoid, or pellagra—would you least like to suffer from? 

Gail: These diseases all have nasty symptoms. But without question, I would NOT want to contract plague. It is the deadliest of the three. We have effective antibiotics for plague today, but the survival rate is decent only if you’re diagnosed early on. If you have pneumonic plague, your chances diminish drastically. Antibiotics work against typhoid, though scientists are seeing more antibiotic resistance. Yet even before we had those drugs, the majority of typhoid victims recovered. Pellagra is easily treated with diet change or niacin supplements.

MKC: These books were quite a journey through primary sources. Do you have a favorite finding?

Gail: Of all the intriguing information I uncovered, my favorite had to do with typhoid fever. I discovered that the epidemiologist who tracked down Typhoid Mary had—four years earlier—helped end a typhoid outbreak in Ithaca, New York, where I live. He determined that the likely source of that outbreak was a creek not far  from my house. Finding connections to your own life makes history and science come alive. When I write for young readers, I look for ways to connect the book’s content to their lives. For example, in Fatal Fever, I included specific details about the physical effects of typhoid on college students in Ithaca, some of whom died during the 1903 epidemic. I found these case studies among infirmary records and other local archival material. Because the victims were teens, I hoped this would help my readers relate to a disease they probably knew nothing about.

MKC: Any further reading recommendations for fans of the Deadly Diseases Trilogy?

Gail: To add a few to the STEM Tuesday Checking Your Health list: Suzanne Jurmain’s Secret of the Yellow Death deals with medical sleuthing. John Fleischman’s Phineas Gage: A Gruesome But True Story About Brain Science would grab young readers. I really enjoyed Poison by Sarah Albee and How They Croaked by Georgia Bragg, two books that use humor to explore medical topics.

Want to know more about Gail Jarrow and the Deadly Diseases Trilogy?

 

Win a FREE copy of BUBONIC PANIC: When Plague Invaded America!

Enter the giveaway by leaving a comment below. The randomly-chosen winner will be contacted via email and asked to provide a mailing address (within the U.S. only) to receive the book.

Good luck!

Your host this week is Mary Kay Carson, author of Mission to Pluto and other nonfiction books for kids. @marykaycarson

 

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