Bubonic Panic: When Plague Invaded America

by Gail Jarrow

A School Library Journal Best Book of the Year
A New York Public Library Best Book for Teens

In March 1900, San Francisco’s health department investigated a strange and horrible death in Chinatown. A man had died of bubonic plague, one of the world’s deadliest diseases. But how could that be possible? Bubonic Panic tells the true story of America’s first plague epidemic—the public health doctors who desperately fought to end it, the political leaders who tried to keep it hidden, and the brave scientists who uncovered the plague’s secrets. Once again, acclaimed author and scientific expert Gail Jarrow brings the history of a medical mystery to life in vivid and exciting detail for young readers. This title includes photographs and drawings, a glossary, a timeline, further resources, an author’s note, and source notes.

Genres: Nonfiction, History, Science, Middle Grade, Historical, Teen, Medical

200 pages, Hardcover

Published May 10, 2016

About the author

Gail Jarrow is the award-winning author of nonfiction books and novels for readers 8-18. Latest book: WHITE HOUSE SECRETS: MEDICAL LIES AND COVER-UPS. Visit GailJarrow.com.

Reviews

[Sesana · Rating 4 out of 5]

There's nothing quite like a good book about an incredibly deadly disease spread by fleas to make the back of your neck itch.

[Deb (Readerbuzz) Nance · Rating 4 out of 5]

I tend to get obsessed with plagues and pandemics of the past. If you are like me, and are somehow wildly interested in scary illnesses, then this might be a book for you. It's full of scary photos and scary facts and scary stories about the bubonic plague.

[Ricki · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have read about the medieval plague, but I haven't read much about the plague epidemic of the twentieth century. It was fascinating (and sad) to learn about this time period. Gail Jarrow has an incredible ability to make nonfiction material very accessible to readers. This book is a page-turner, and I had difficulty putting it down! The information is very easy to follow, yet it is complex and made me think! I will read any book by Jarrow because she really makes me think. Her texts go beyond medical information. There are themes, for example, about racism and prejudice that made me want to use this book in the classroom!

Teachers' Tools for Navigation: As with Gail Jarrow's Fatal Fever, I think it would be wise for teachers to explore other diseases and epidemics while teaching this book. It would be particularly interesting to make connections between this book and Jarrow's Red Madness and Fatal Fever. Students could participate in literature circles and discuss their learning. I also found the prejudice and scapegoating included in the text to be very interesting and think this would make for very worthy classroom discussions.


Full Review: http://www.unleashingreaders.com/?p=1...

[Meredith · Rating 3 out of 5]

Gail Jarrow is an excellent presenter of facts. For the most part. Some of this book fell into the "litany of dates and events" trap, though.

That being said, I never did know how Y. pestis got its name. Thank you, Alexandre (said in the lost-cat search voice from "Home Movies").

Lots of politics affected the search for causes and cures, which is probably happening now too. Possibly the most surprising information was the Japanese dropping bubonic flea bombs on China during WWII, with plans to attack San Diego as well.

Also now I am afraid of all the squirrels in our yard.

[Katie Moran · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absolutely fascinating!!! I’m such a fan of Gail Jarrow. So well researched and truly well written!

[Zareena Rehman · Rating 1 out of 5]

NEVER READ ONLY READ BC OF SCHOOL ITS BAD

[Kelly]

This middle grade nonfiction title explores the third wave of bubonic plague, which hit the US in the early 1900s. More specifically, it delves into the ways that society and politicians chose to handle the public health crisis which was wildly -- and unsurprisingly -- racist against Asian immigrants and communities. I wish Jarrow had dove into that a little bit further, but she did offer some excellent primary source images that makes those beliefs and actions clear.

The book's trim size is annoying for me as a reader, but it's also necessary in order to offer the photos and sidebars that it does. Those extra pieces were useful and carefully used to add to the text, rather than detract from it.

Readers who love science or mysteries (because the narrative thread here is how the heck did the plague get to America) will dig this one. I didn't know anything about the American angle of plague nor that there were three big "waves" of bubonic plague through history. I'd only ever known about the one we all learned about in our history classes.

The back matter is excellent, and I found the FAQs that Jarrow chose to include at the end of the book really thought-provoking. It was clear she anticipated some questions from young readers and she addresses them succinctly and smartly.

Fun fact: I knew the plague was still a thing in the American southwest; in mid 2007, my husband and I were driving from Las Vegas to Austin and stopped one night in a New Mexico town, where the lead story was about a small local outbreak. I was surprised, but learning about the fact that it's rodents and fleas associated with them that can cause the illness makes that make more sense. Likewise, this book will likely heighten fear from the hypochondriacs out there, since this is a disease that's still possible and Jarrow doesn't ignore that.

[Lynn · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fascinating!! Jarrow's focus is on the third pandemic wave of the Bubonic Plague and the events surrounding its invasion of America in 1900. While a clear explanation of the disease and its forms, the book examines scientific understanding and the sharing and/or resistance to new discoveries of the time, the impact of the prevailing racism on the management of the outbreak and the political tug of war that affected all levels of government and the evolving public health agencies.

As in her other "disease" books, Jarrow's writing is exceptionally informative while also being a vivid gripping narrative. I learned so much in this book! The story of the third pandemic was mostly new to me as was the history of how the disease spread into the rodent population of the western US. EEKS! I knew plague had surfaced off and on recently but this was quite eye-opening.

Exceptionally well done back matter including a very tempting bibliography and clear timeline. i loved the other two books in this series and this one is not to be missed!

[Kristen · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a super fascinating book that I probably cannot recommend on school visits this year, in the middle of a pandemic. It would definitely be too soon for lots of kids. But the information about the different types of plague, how it spreads, and the story of scientists figuring out the mystery of how to identify and cure plague are all really well presented and researched here. For kids/teens who like learning about medical history and gross stuff (and for adults like me who also find this fascinating!) this is a really good read. It also shows how public health is apparently always political and all of the political fights that happened when politicians didn't want to admit that the plague was happening (hmmmm ... sound familiar?). It doesn't shy away from the fact that plague is still something you can catch, but does show how much our medical science has advanced since the third worldwide plague epidemic in the late 1800s/early 1900s.

Gail Jarrow does nonfiction for tweens and middle school so well and this was no exception.

[Amanda Harrison · Rating 4 out of 5]

What is awesome? Reading this entire book about how rats spread fleas that have bubonic plague and then finding two dead mice in your barn the same afternoon. Clearly a personal problem.

That being said, this was an engaging tale of bubonic plague from the middle ages to today. The majority of the book is about the impact of bubonic plague on California in the early 1900's and the subsequent conflict between the Chinese people of San Franscisco and the government and the scientists. This book is a good illustration of how science happens with all the personality conflicts, cultural conflicts, back tracking, mistakes, etc.

Note: Pictures are descriptive and while not are truly obscene they can be grotesque. Less mature students may be overly interested in the groin bubos (swellings that occur during most instances of plague).

Good for a middle school or high school library.

[Adam · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was great! Was it smart reading a book about a plague in the middle of a pandemic? Maybe not. Haha. But it's unreal how much we HAVEN'T LEARNED! Ugh
This book gives a very thorough review of the plague from a historical perspective. It provides lots of great images (some are graphic) to accompany the text. I learned a great deal. It does not read like narrative nonfiction which is my preferred format but that's okay. It is very easy to understand and would serve as a great reference book. I would not recommend it if you want an in-depth review of the plague from a scientific and medical perspective. While it contains good information from both, it's not the aim of this book.

Now it is a kids book. I don't believe this would have broad appeal. But I do believe it will find its niche audience.

[Carrie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Jarrow tells a good story while informing her readers about one of the world's scariest diseases. There are several well done sections, particularly with the discrimination experienced by the Chinese when plague first arrived in San Francisco and the plague deniers that tried to refute scientific evidence. Also, the status of current day plague is covered with the gravity it deserves yet doesn't resort to scare tactics.

I have a few tiny quibbles: The title is slightly misleading as both septicemic and pneumonic plague are covered and it takes half the book to get to America's intersection with the plague. Also a few of the photographs are oddly placed (though overall, the photos add great value.)

[Kathy · Rating 4 out of 5]

The plague. The black death. Destroyer of empires. And it came to America! How did we escape the mass death? Through scientific study, we found out how plague is spread (through fleas that infest rats), and stopped it by killing rats and keeping them away. Has plague been eradicated? Nope. The fleas that carry plague infest rodents on all continents (except Antarctica) and multiple cases are found every year. It is like a horror movie, where the bad guy could come back at any moment we relax our vigilance! Bwahaha!

[Abby Johnson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another hit from Gail Jarrow! This book started off a little slow with necessary explanation of the bubonic plague's history in medieval Europe, but it really took off once the 19th century epidemics started. Jarrow's writing is compelling, making this nonfiction science mystery quite a page-turner. I would definitely suggest this to fans of true mysteries and the history of science.

[Beth · Rating 4 out of 5]

Gail Jarrow definitely expanded on my knowledge of 'the plague,' which didn't extend beyond that of the Black Death in Europe. And I could see how the book could be appealing to a younger audience - with the satirical illustrations of newspaper publications and so on - while still being rich with information.

[Jessica · Rating 3 out of 5]

AM Read-aloud. Both kids gave this 3.5, which I thought fair. We found it an interesting enough introduction to how plague works and becomes epidemic, and a good telling of epidemic plague in 1900s San Francisco. It's a solid science history for middle grade readers who are interested, but easily skippable if they aren't.

[Sandy Stiles · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another fascinating book by Gail Jarrow! Having previously read Red Madness and Fatal Fever, I knew that Jarrow has a flair for bringing medical non-fiction to life. This book was no exception. Put me in the ranks of people who thought the bubonic plague was just a terrible scourge of the middle ages -- I had no idea that we faced it in the United States. Great writing, great read!

[Katri · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars. I got kind of bored in the middle, with all the info about the beginnings of plague in San Francisco. If that part had been condensed, I certainly would have given it a higher rating.

[Sally · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very informative and well written. My daughter used some information for her research paper.

[Joseph · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book, very interesting and easy to read. I learned a lot.

[Christine Fitzgerald]

Well if this wasn't the perfect book to read during this pandemic, I'm not sure what is.

[Trisha · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5⭐️
Super interesting. If only certain politicians of today studied history so they knew not to blame “fake news”, other cultures, or other people for a disease. 😜

[Eve Markley · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is written on perhaps a high school level. It presents the facts of this obscure piece of history in a fascinating way. A real page-turner, Bubonic Panic tells the story of an outbreak of plague in San Francisco in 1900 and how health authorities dealt with the threat.
I was captivated by the similarities in the responses of the people in 1900 and the people during the covid outbreak. Everyone, health officials and citizens in harm’s way, acted much the same in the two outbreaks more than 100 years apart.
I found this book to be a highly informative, interesting, well-written account of a little known, but very important episode in American history. It’s written at about a high school level. You’ll get all the pertinent facts in a quick easy read. If you want more depth this book might serve as an introduction. I’m satisfied with this level of information, though.

[Queenie Gultia · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great an informative book! I never knew that the bubonic plague actually reached America in the late 19th - early 20th century.

It’s nauseating to know that government today and before who held high positions, in case of this book, the governor of California was a self-indulging narcissistic individual that they’ll put his campaign over the lives of the people. Governor Gage handled the bubonic plague quite bad with his plague-denying ideology, costing the lives of the people in San Francisco. I’m glad that he was not chosen the Republican party after this fiasco and they chose a physician to be their new governor instead.

[Alex Alex · Rating 4 out of 5]

The bubonic plague, sometimes referred to as Yersinia pestis or the Black Death, wiped out 60% of Europe in just 7 years. The book Bubonic Panic When Plague Invaded America, by Gail Jarrow, was an interesting and informative read. It was published by Calkins Creek in Honesdale, Pennsylvania in 2016. The plague is considered to be the greatest catastrophe ever. On a scale of one to five, with one being uninformative, boring, and not appealing to read and five being very informative, interesting, and appealing, I would rate it a four. I give it this rating because it was informative and interesting to me, but it might not appeal to everyone. This book is worth reading because the author was excellent in explaining the first two pandemics, describing the third pandemic and when it invaded America, and emphasizing how the plague is still a danger to us today.
The book is descriptive about the first two bubonic plague pandemics. The text explains that the plague could kill entire cities, towns, and armies in a few days. One form of the plague, the pneumonic plague, could kill you within hours. The author declares, “Death might come so fast that you’d go to bed healthy and never wake up” (9). At its height, the plague would kill 10,000 people every day in the capital of the Byzantine Empire alone. It was believed to have started in Asia and spread to most of Europe. The author points out “Once the disease reached the eastern Mediterranean Sea, ships carried it throughout the region” (14). The plague then disappeared for 600 years, until it eventually resurfaced in 1345 in the Mongolian army’s camp on the outskirts of Caffa, a major trading post. This event, the second pandemic, was called the Black Death, and the book emphasizes “...at least 20-25 million people died of plague in Europe” (22). The text contains a large amount of factual information relating to the first two pandemics, making it very educational. Because of the abundance of facts and what you can learn from them, I recommend Bubonic Panic When Plague Invaded America to anyone.
The second section explains how the plague reemerged and came to Hong Kong, then proceeded to invade America. The first death was a laborer from China. He was sick in Chinatown, San Francisco, and eventually died. The two doctors that viewed his body after he died both determined the cause of his death to be from the bubonic plague. They chose to quarantine all of Chinatown to prevent the plague from taking over the rest of the city. According to the text, “Guards allowed no one to enter and only whites to exit through the blockade” (66). The Chinese saw this as an act of racism and many of them believed that there was no plague. Thanks to Rupert Blue, a scientist sent to help, San Francisco was purged of the plague. However, due to an earthquake destroying a lot of the city and pushing people into parks and camps. These camps had a lot of people packed into them, and in the poor conditions the plague resurfaced. The text says “...records show that from May 1907 to February 1908, plague infected 167 people in the city” (136). Throughout this section of the book, there are high amounts of factual information and it is all clearly written. There are also many pictures to help understand or show more insight into different facts and people. This section was very focused on how the plague got into the country, and all of the effects it had on all of California, not just San Francisco. If they didn’t stop it, the plague could have taken over all of San Francisco.
The last section of the book talks about the bubonic plague and how it can be dangerous to us now.. It was found that the bubonic plague often travels from rat to rat through fleas. When the infected fleas bite humans, they get infected. The same is for other ground animals, such as ground squirrels. The plague got out of San Francisco, and eventually spread throughout the wild, and infections appeared all over the country. The writer states, “During the next two years, scientists detected Y. pestis in the ground squirrels of Montana, Idaho, Nevada, and Utah. Plague had escaped from California” (146). The plague had gotten out and could now start infecting the rest of the country. However, the bubonic plague is still rare and can be cured. The author emphasizes, “Today, 1,000 to 4,000 people throughout the world fall ill with plague each year...” (162). The author then describes how it can be used as a bioweapon by terrorists or become resistant to current antibiotics. It adds that scientists are trying to find a safe vaccine. In the back of the book it shows sources that can be used for a writing or history project over the bubonic plague, along with having names and dates all throughout the book. I think this part of Bubonic Panic When Plague Invaded America is the most interesting because it explains how it can affect us today.
The author wrote an interesting book and did an amazing job explaining the first two pandemics, the third pandemic and its effects on America, and how we can be affected today. Jarrow described both times the plague appeared previously and what happened with each of them. She explained how America defended against the plague. Lastly, they educated us on how the plague can affect us today. If you are interested in diseases or famous historical events l, I would strongly recommend that you read this book.

[Amber M · Rating 4 out of 5]

I knew very little about the Bubonic Plague. I always thought of it as a Medieval disease and didn't realize how it infected America in the early 1900s (and is still around today!) I believe the book is meant for children, therefore, is very easy to read and contains lots of pictures. It didn't feel too heavy and I learned something new.

[Samantha · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a fascinating book, and especially eerie after the recent Covid-19 pandemic. I learned a lot about this disease and how it was dealt with over the years. I love the way Jarrow presents her subject matter. The blend of information and photographs really make the history come to life.

[Shirley · Rating 5 out of 5]

Plague reading for the younger reader! Honestly, it's very well done history and has excellent pictures and a helpful timeline, which were things Black Death at the Golden Gate lacked. Highly recommend reading both together if you're interested in the history of the bubonic plague in the US.

[Sybil Waters · Rating 4 out of 5]

Filled with artifacts—pictures, articles, political cartoons, and great story telling about the bubonic plague

[Angie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Everyone has heard of the Black Death and how it devastated Europe in the Middle Ages. What you might not know is that there was an equally deadly outbreak of bubonic plague in the late 19th century/early 20th century, or that plague is still active around the world today. Bubonic Panic is the final book in Gail Jarrow's Deadly Diseases series. She started with Red Madness: How a Medical Mystery Changed What We Eat and followed it up with Fatal Fever: Tracking Down Typhoid Mary. Bubonic Panic details the history of bubonic plague and specifically focuses on the third wave of plague that hit the world in the early 1900s.

The third pandemic of bubonic plague began in China and quickly swept through the Far East and India. Doctors and researchers from around the world converged on Hong Kong and other epicenters of the disease to find out what they could about the causes and how it spread. Alexandre Yersin was the first researcher to correctly identify the bacteria causing bubonic plague and in 1894 Yersinia pestis was named in his honor. Two other researchers, Simond and Ogata, each identified the path of the disease when they realized plague was carried from fleas on infected rats who bit humans. Unfortunately, their research wasn't widely known or even believed for years. During this time period, most doctors and public health officials believed the best way to contain the plague outbreaks was to disinfect, isolate and quarantine.

America had been plague-free until an outbreak hit Honolulu in 1900. It was centered around Chinatown, and many believed it was caused by unsanitary conditions in that district. It was a small outbreak, but resulted in the almost complete destruction of Chinatown by an out-of-control fire. Plague wasn't done with America yet, however. A few months after the Honolulu outbreak, plague was in San Francisco. It was again centered around Chinatown. Through a series of political missteps, the San Francisco outbreak became a hot-button issue. Many people, including the governor of California, did not believe bubonic plague actually existed in San Francisco. They blamed the Marine Hospital Service, today the Public Health Service, and its leader in San Francisco, Dr. Joseph Kinyoun. Failed quarantines and public relations disasters lead to the ouster of Kinyoun, and eventually Governor Gage, but it did not stop the spread of plague. The San Francisco earthquake of 1906 further hindered efforts to stop its spread. It took the leadership of Dr. Rupert Blue and the eradication of millions of rats to finally slow the disease.

It is surprising to most that bubonic plague has never actually been eradicated. The fleas that carried the disease spread into the wild and infected other rodents, like ground squirrels. Plague continues infecting and killing people throughout the world today. In America, it is centered around the Southwest, but fortunately antibiotics can be used to treat plague if caught early enough.

Gail Jarrow is a master at writing nonfiction that reads like a thriller. Bubonic Panic is a fascinating look at a deadly disease with the history and potential to cause major harm. Jarrow makes the story of this disease come alive in how she tracks its progress around the world, introduces those working to stop its spread and reveals the contradictory responses by public officials. The narrative style and quality illustrations draw readers into the story and make history come alive.