An American Plague

An American Plague: The True and Terrifying Story of the Yellow Fever Epidemic of 1793

Murphy, J. (2003). An American plague: The true and terrifying story of the yellow fever epidemic. New York, NY: Houghton Mifflin Company.

Read on June 8, 2012. Among its many awards, this book was a Newbery Honor book in 2004.

It was 1973 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania when the first person died of a mysterious cause. Within the next 7 days, 8 people got a fever and became deathly ill. What was this fever doing to the townspeople of Philadelphia? Where was the fever coming from? How did you get rid of it once you had it? The answers for these questions did not come quickly or easily, if at all. Because of that, up to 100 people died in any given week, all throughout the disease's fierce rule of Philadelphia. The Philadelphians started with cleaning up the waste of trash and dead animals. This seemed to help some, but things were still dire. Many doctors tried different remedies like herbal supplements, drinking poison to induce vomiting and diarrhea, and bloodletting. While there is still no cure for yellow fever, doctors did figure out a way to spot the disease in its early stages.

This book, being highly informational, would be beneficial to have in either a guided reading group (Fountas and Pinnell), read aloud (Trelease), or as an active, shared reading experience (Fish). Teachers could guide the class to a deeper understanding by performing think alouds, sharing thoughts with a peer, writing about their reading, or doing additional research in relation to a content area. Since this epidemic is related to the Black Plague, students could note similarities between the two. Although it's disgusting, students could also make their learning more concrete by using the information from the book to draw what victims looked like throughout the various stages of the disease. Another option would be to have students make brochures for the citizens about how to avoid getting yellow fever and what to do when you realize you are getting it.