When Plague Strikes: The Black Death, Smallpox, AIDS – An Arresting History of Medical Treatment and Death for Kids

by James Cross Giblin, David Frampton (Illustrator)

Compassionate and arresting, this exploration of three major diseases that have changed the course of history—the bubonic plague, smallpox, and AIDS—chronicles their fearsome death toll, their lasting social, economic, and political implications, and how medical knowledge and treatments have advanced as a result of the crises they have occasioned. "A book that would serve well for reports, but it is also a fascinating read."—SLJ. Best Books of 1995 (SLJ)
Notable Children's Trade Books in Social Studies 1996 (NCSS/CBC)
1995 Young Adult Editors’ Choices (BL)
1995 Top of the List Non Fiction (BL)
1996 Best Books for Young Adults (ALA)
Notable Children’s Books of 1996 (ALA)

Genres: Nonfiction, History, Science, Disease, Medicine, Historical, Health

212 pages, Paperback

First published October 1, 1995

About the author

James Cross Giblin was an American children's author and editor, known for his award-winning works. He won the Golden Kite Award and the Sibert Medal for his contributions to children's literature. Giblin was born in Cleveland and raised in Painesville, Ohio. He graduated from Western Reserve University and earned a master's in playwriting from Columbia University. After a brief acting career, he entered publishing, founding Clarion Books, a children's imprint later acquired by Houghton Mifflin. At Clarion, he edited works by notable authors like Eileen Christelow and Mary Downing Hahn. Giblin’s works include The Life and Death of Adolf Hitler and Good Brother, Bad Brother.

Reviews

[Will Byrnes · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a young adult book, 10 and up about the big three of the title. It is filled with interesting facts and is written in an easy to read style. I learned some new things from it. It could have been a bit stronger about potential future problems, but that may be a factor of its publication date. Much has happened since then.


James Cross Giblin, a renowned children's author and editor, passed away in April, 2016 at age 82 - image from the NY Times

[Kaethe · Rating 5 out of 5]

While I have read many plague books, I haven't read many on AIDS, and those haven't been recent. Science always trumps belief in an epidemic which is easy for me to say because I don't hold any beliefs as far as I can tell. Many people feel otherwise, which I cannot understand. Literally I cannot comprehend the thought process that says death is preferable to wearing a face mask, or that corporations require financial assistance more than people need food, or that reopening schools that can't avoid outbreaks of head lice every year will somehow be able to avoid transmission of COVID-19, which is now on track to be the third highest cause of death in the US before the end of the year. I would much rather not see hundreds of thousands of Darwin Awards be given this year. It's a pity we don't have a woman leading our country; those countries that do are looking really good right now.

Library copy

[Emily · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not the best book I’ve read on this subject, but not the worst either. It’s probably a good jumping off point for teenagers interested in epidemics, as it isn’t too laden with boring statistics and difficult scientific terminology. It is outdated, though (written in 1995.) 2.5 stars.

[Lindsey · Rating 2 out of 5]

"When Plague Strikes": The Harsh Reality of History's Worst Epidemics
Imagine living in a world where the plague wipes out half of the population known to man. When these three plagues strike, this is exactly what happened. The Black Death hit Europe, Smallpox in Asia, and AIDS in America and Africa, taking a total of 362.9 million lives. In the historical non-fiction book published in New York City by HarperCollins in 1995, "When Plague Strikes" by James Cross Giblin, identifies how these plagues lasted so long and why they stopped. Though these plagues all struck at different times, the damage they caused was all the same. The Black Death was transmitted through fleas that travelled on rats. Smallpox was spread with human contact, as well as AIDS (Giblin). Throughout the book, Giblin struggles to describe how they were transmitted, briefly mentions symptoms, but goes in depth on how citizens reacted as well as the cure if one is available.

"When Plague Strikes" is divided into thirds with five chapters for each plague to give full insight for each without being confused on where you left off. Giblin starts the book with The Black Death that was carried from China over to Europe in the form of fleas. The main symptoms mentioned were buboes that swelled up in the lymph nodes of victims as well as bleeding from various places of the body. Bodies overcrowded the cities, all death was unmanageable. Giblin describes how the citizens felt they were being punished by God. The flagellants especially believed this. Giblin briefly mentions this group. It can be gathered that they were extreme radicals from the church. Others however, lost all faith. The Black Death remains uncured. The second section of "When Plague Strikes" begins in Ancient Egypt, where Pharaoh Ramses V dies of an unknown disease at age thirty. It is later suggested that he died from smallpox. Many Egyptians continued to die in similar ways, leading to belief of another epidemic uprising. Giblin remarks that this new plague looks just like syphilis, also known as the great pox. To distinguish between the two, it was called smallpox. After many years, a cure was found in an obscure way that had never been tried before. Finishing up the book, Giblin brings AIDS into the question. At the time it was written, AIDS was at it's all time high in America and Africa. AIDS spread rapidly from person to person. Years of research went into finding a cure to no prevail. Giblin remains optimistic they'll prove it possible to make a cure. (Giblin).

As a student in Honors English, it's safe to say I've read many books throughout the years. "When Plague Strikes" really drew me in with it's enticing title but was rather disappointing with the overall content. Compared to the many other plague books, such as The Great Plague, there was a lack of information and it was quite easy to lose interest. Fellow reader Seth Squire states, "It was pretty dull and unengaging, which made the whole of the book very bad," followed by Jacob Flipping adding, "Reading it is boring at best, sometimes even close to painful." Due to the date this book was released, it's no surprise that new information has been found. Giblin was alive during the AIDS epidemic when it was at its worst. "When Plague Strikes" is an easy read, it has become clear that this book was meant for middle schoolers to young adults who are just becoming interested in disease. Giblin has many other works that focus on history, proving that although he knows what he's talking about, plagues are not his strong suit. "When Plague Strikes" earned itself a solid two out of five stars.

Giblin shows his lack of extensive knowledge on the greatest epidemics the world has faced. While reading, it will be a challenge to keep going, and it truly isn't worth it. "When Plague Strikes" struck my bookshelf in a gruesome way and I would not recommend this book to anyone with knowledge of the plagues. The lack of information as well as the boring descriptions place this book on the "Do Not Read" list.



Works Cited
Giblin, James Cross. “When Plague Strikes: The Black Death, Smallpox, AIDS by James Cross Giblin.” Goodreads, Goodreads, 11 Apr. 1997, www.goodreads.com/book/show/264821.Wh...#. Accessed 7 Jan. 2021.
Giblin, James Cross. When the Plague Strikes: the Black Death, Smallpox, Aids. HarperCollins, 1995.

[Benji · Rating 3 out of 5]

Can you imagine a plague that killed half of the known world? This happened three times, when the Black Death struck Europe, when AIDS struck Africa and America, and when smallpox struck Asia. The definition of the word plague is: an epidemic disease that causes high mortality, very contagious. This book, When Plague Strikes by: James Cross Giblin, taught me that these three plagues definitely fall into this definition. The Black Death was transferred from fleas and rats as well as human interaction, while smallpox was just transferred just from human contact. These epidemics easily killed half of the world in their time. They where only stopped later when doctors found a way to treat them. For example, the smallpox was treated by putting a scab of an infected person into a cut of a healthy man. This would give him a small case of smallpox but after that they would be immune to any further sicknesses.
Giblin divided this book into thirds to explain each plague individually. Each section had 5-6 chapters with subheadings. I think this is good because it lets you focus on one plague at a time. However, smallpox started in the middle of the Black Death’s time so they couldn’t say that in the section that is titled The Black Death. There are very little pictures in my book and I wish there were more. Pictures would give a greater understanding of the signs and symptoms the plague came with.
I think Giblin wrote this book to teach about the three specific plagues. The consequence of the informational style is that the writing is a little bit boring. I found myself reading and stopping to “process it” then reading more. I feel that Giblin really knew what he was talking about. His knowledge of these plagues taught me a great deal about them. He wasn’t biased at all! He was straight and to the point about this subject.
One thing the author did well is he teaches the readers a lot about these plagues. He proves the common stereotypes on these plagues wrong. I think that what he could have added is more grabbing topics. It would be nice to have a part that would make me want to keep reading. I think this book is more intended for adult audiences. His imagery that he describes is very vulgar and gory. The part about AIDS was particularly disturbing. I couldn’t even bring myself to read it. Overall I think this is a great book but it is intended for older audiences.

[Marie · Rating 3 out of 5]

In this young adult nonfiction book, James Cross Giblin discusses three diseases: the Black Death, smallpox, and AIDS. Giblin provides a history of each one, and there is little overlap between the histories, so they could be read separately. The sections on the Black Death and smallpox were interesting, informative, and clear. Unfortunately, I found myself writing critical notes while I read the section on AIDS. Like the other sections, it was interesting. Unlike the other sections, it wasn’t always clear and it contained inaccurate and out of date information.

The most glaring problem with the section on AIDS is that retroviruses are inaccurately described. Giblin provides the following explanation: "Retroviruses make up a unique subgroup of viruses that are found in both humans and animals. Like other viruses, they infect by attaching themselves to and penetrating susceptible cells in the body. But then, unlike ordinary viruses, the retrovirus tricks the host cell into reproducing it as though it were part of the cell's own genetic material." The actual behavior of retroviruses that separates them from other viruses is reverse transcription; all viruses trick host cells into helping them reproduce.

Two other aspects of the AIDS section frustrated me: it’s out of date and it lacks the flow and clarity of the first two sections. This book was first published more than two decades ago; there has been significant progress in the prevention and treatment of AIDS since this book’s publication. Additionally, Giblin lived through the AIDS crisis, while by the time I was born AIDS was a declining health problem in the US. It’s possible that this is why I found the AIDS section different from the sections on the Black Death and smallpox. Both Giblin and I didn’t live through the first two epidemics, but Giblin was alive at the height of the US AIDS crisis and I wasn’t. I suspect that parts of this book that were unclear or confusing to me would not be to someone who was alive when the events described took place.

Although I was disappointed by the final part of this book, I was impressed by the first two. I’d recommend this book to people interested in a short history of the Black Death or smallpox. If you want to learn about AIDS, look elsewhere.

[penelopewanders]

I was reading "Disease: The Extraordinary Stories Behind History's Deadliest Killers" by Mary Dobson as preperation for my EFL class with the theme of sickness and health, and someone saw it and commented that one of his students was reading this book at the lunch table. I borrowed this from the student in question and was impressed by the clarity and simplicity of the writing. Although the three diseases are described in detail, their complexity is made very understandable. I have ordered it for my class as a sort of background piece to the novels we are reading. So far we've only read the prologue together. My one disappointment with this book is that it was written in the mid-1990s and fortunately things have changed a bit on the AIDS front since then. My students will have the task of trying to find out what is new since the book concluded.
Having lived in France at the time when the Gallo/Pasteur Institute "competition" was raging, I thought the incident when the Americans claimed the discovery as their own, which caused a great deal of anger on the part of the French research community, was a bit understated.

[Michelle]

Michelle Kwait
Informational

(SPOILER ALERT)

Summary:

This book goes into the origins, symptoms, cures (and possible cures), along with the cultural significance of the Black Plague, Smallpox, and AIDS-- with a small section on what diseases may already be surfacing for the next epidemic. Often, Giblin focuses on the victims, from the personal level of hemophiliac Ryan White, to the mass scale of black plague victims left in the streets, with the sick literally walled into their homes with their families.

Critique:

Usually informative books are not my main area of interest, but this was an easy, compelling read. Giblin shows not only the power of fear then and now, but the possibility of hope in science's race to develop a cure for AIDS, and other re-surfacing diseases.

[Ellen Broadhurst · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have absolutely no idea why this book ended up on my "to-read" list. It was available at my local library, so I borrowed it. It's not a terrible book, but best suited for a middle-schooler learning about about plague behaviors. Unfortunately, completely dated now that we have Ebola as a real life 'next' plague. So, 3-stars.

[Marissa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Without disease in our world’s history, the places we live in would be significantly different today. The Bubonic Plague wiped out a third of Europe. Smallpox weakened the Aztec Empire and Native American Tribes so they could be taken over. AIDS was used as another excuse to resent homosexuals in the late 1900s. This book follows three epidemics that wiped out millions of people across the world. Giblin published 18 books before his death in 2016 and 12 of his books have been named Notable Children's Books by the American Library Association. The book, published in New York by HarperCollins in 1997, gives equal focus to each plague, yet there is not a boring patch throughout it. Because of the educational and unbiased nature of the book When Plague Strikes: The Black Death, Smallpox, AIDS, by James Cross Gibli, I would highly recommend this book to anyone hoping to expand their knowledge on the plagues of our world’s history.
This book by James Cross Giblin is an incredible work because it is packed with useful and interesting information. The first third of the book tells of the Bubonic Plague (nicknamed “Black Death”) and how it was distributed throughout Europe. The lack of medical advancements led to The Black Death killing around 25 million Europeans. In the following chapter, it tells of Smallpox- a disease spread human to human. The disease depleted the Aztec population so greatly it resulted in them being taken over by Spain. Finally, it goes into depth about AIDS, a disease that raged in the 80s and was believed to be spread through homosexual sex. It made the gay population lose much of the social acceptance they were slowly gaining. Each section is set up similarly, starting with the first known case of the disease. It then goes on to tell how it was spread and then finishes with what ended or greatly reduced the effect of the disease. The information provided in this book is very thorough and interesting. While talking about smallpox on page 58, the author describes “Sometime between the ninth and twelfth days, the first symptoms appeared: high fever, chills, backache, and headache.” Giblin provides a detailed description of the symptoms a victim would suffer. Although smallpox is eradicated and no longer a threat to society, it is still captivating to learn the details of the disease. For the other two epidemics, the author gives the symptoms in a similar style and goes into detail what those symptoms would look like. Even though some of these diseases raged in the early 14th century, Giblin was able to write an informational and fascinating book.
An additional reason I was so won over by this book is it is unbiased. Instead of glorifying a specific country or person even if they were in the wrong, he made sure to tell the whole story including their failures. For example, on page 71, towards the end of explaining the fall of the Aztec empire, Giblin states “[Cortes] returned in August 1521 and easily defeated the weakened Aztec army… The mighty Aztec empire had been brought low by disease, and it would never rise again.” The author gave credit to the Spanish army for defeating the Aztecs but also complimented the Aztecs by telling how strong their army was before the disease struck. Giblin conveys this throughout his entire book. He tells of many quarrels and fights between different people throughout the book . Unless science is clearly on their side, he makes sure to give equal attention in his story to both parties. This book by James Cross Giblin is an incredible read, and that is helped in part by his unbiased nature.
When Plague Strikes: The Black Death, Smallpox, AIDS is a fascinating book about three diseases that affected and still continues to affect our world today. The book is incredibly educational and not at all boring. Giblin invitingly provides information to ensure you learn something but do not get intimidated by all the new things being shown to you. The author is also unbiased and provides information and admiration for both sides of the stories he tells. If there were two sides to a fight, as in the case of the Spanish and the Aztecs, Giblin will make sure he reasonably tells the facts and doesn’t glorify one side. I learned so much about the diseases in the pages of Plague Strikes: The Black Death, Smallpox, AIDS, and I would recommend this book to anyone who is interested in learning how these diseases affected our society.

[Emily Whittington · Rating 1 out of 5]

The book When Plague Strikes written by James Cross Giblin focuses on 3 different plagues; The Black death (Bubonic Plague), smallpox, and AIDS. The black death is a bacteria transmitted through flea bites. The symptoms are headaches, weakness, staggered walking, fatigue, swelling armpits, mouth gaped, a fast heartbeat, uncontrolled arm and leg movements, and blackened skin. When this plague first broke out in the black sea, people blamed the Italians for the spread. So the natives gathered an army to attack Italian trading posts. During the small battle, the natives ended up having to withdraw. However, after it was over, the natives threw the dead bodies of infected soldiers over a barrier towards Italy. They hoped to infect the italians. As it turns out, it did. The black death broke out in Italy. Italian authorities sent the militia to wall up houses that the black death victims lived in. They hoped this would prevent transmission. At first, people thought it was caused by a series of earthquakes that released poisonous fumes from Earth's core. Others thought the devil caused it. While many thought that Southern winds and climate changes had carried the disease North. Venice’s population went from 130,000 to 70,000 is 8 months. Also, almost 30% of Europeans had died from the black death. Today we use antibiotics and sanitation to prevent this bacteria. Another plague that the book describes is Smallpox. Smallpox is a virus that is transmitted through the air. The symptoms vary from a rash starting at the face and running down the rest of the body, to fevers. headaches, blisters, and internal bleeding. Smallpox can even sometimes leave you blind. When it first broke out in India, people thought that there was a Goddess that could control smallpox. They believed she could either heal people of it, or spread it and make it worse. The Chinese also soon began believing in a similar Goddess. To prevent the disease from spreading, people used inoculation. Inoculation was the process of putting dust from scabs of infected victims into people noses, then healing those people right away. After this, the person was immune to smallpox. In Tenochtitlan, at least one fourth of the population died of smallpox. The last plague the book described was AIDS. The symptoms of AIDS are swollen lymph glands and low T-cell counts. When T-cell counts are low, it is harder for the body to fight off diseases. When people first starting getting these symptoms, only gay people were getting it. So many people who weren’t gay, weren’t worried. However, soon people besides gay people were getting AIDS. As it turns out, AIDS are a blood borne virus transmitted through sex. So many bathhouses and sex clubs were closed to prevent transmission at the time. While science today has created many drugs, vaccines, and remedies that may help and prevent AIDS, nothing is promising. Throughout the book, you learn about these three different types of plagues all throughout different time periods. The author describes how the diseases were at the time, and how they are treatable or untreatable now.

[Nikolas Laredo · Rating 5 out of 5]

When Plague Strikes is a non-fiction, and informational book on many different epidemics that had struck in history. This book focused on the Black Death, Smallpox, and AIDS. This book not only focused on the disease itself, it gave insight on how the population reacted to the diseases and what they had tried to do in order to stop them. For example, during the Black Death section it described how many people blamed God and thought he was punishing them for their sins, so one group of people would curse themselves and walk the streets whipping each other to make God have mercy on them. Many people would flea the cities to the countryside bringing the disease with them helping to spread it. Many people would also isolate themselves from others and other people would barricade the infected people's homes. Soon enough, the people expected to die so others would walk the streets partying making the most out of their lives. The small pox section had described how the use of incoculations and vaccines helped to stop the disease by infecting a person with a tiny portion of the disease so the immune system could fight it off, leaving the person immune. Later, the world went on a spree to wipe out the disease by making everybody get a vaccine. In the last section of the book it had described AIDS and how many people were at first confused but then were startled to find that many victims were Gay or homosexual at first, so one group of teens had went to a park at night and attacked a mob of gay people with baseball bats. But, the disease was not only found in Gay people in fact, it started his an infection called HIV, which attacks a persons T-Cells leaving a weak immune system, and once at least 1-2 oportunistic diseases infected the body, a person would then be diagnosed with AIDS. HIV could be transmitted by the mixing of body fluids such as blood, seimen, vaginal fluids, breast milk, e.t.c. So, therefore, HIV and AIDS could happen in anybody.

[Hailey · Rating 3 out of 5]

"When Plague Strikes", is a book about the Harsh Reality of History's Worst Epidemics and when these three plagues strike. I would give this book a three star rating, it is a good book and gives a lot of factual information and i've learned a lot from it, but the detail could have been a bit better. I would say this book is for a mature audience, at least over the age of 15. It took millions of lives in horrible ways, and the book isn't made for someone with a weak stomach. The plagues all hit in different times and areas, but the damage was still equal. The Black Death hit Europe, Smallpox in Asia, and AIDS in America and Africa, taking a estimate of 362 million lives.
In the historical non-fiction book, "When Plague Strikes" by James Cross Giblin, it identifies why these plagues lasted so long and what helped it to stop. The Black Death was transmitted through fleas that travelled on black rats, typically brought by ship, from sailing to one place or another. Smallpox was spread with human contact, which was very unfortunte because it made caring for your loved ones that has it very hard, if not impossible, which was also a major reason of the spread. And last but not least, AIDS, a sexual transmitted disease that also wiped out an insane amount of people. James Cross Giblin sectioned each topic with its own section of the book. He first explained the outbreak of the Black Plague, after explained Smallpox and lastly, explained AIDS. I did enjoy how he explained the sicknesses from the outside in perspective and told his readers exactly what is was like being a victim of any of these diseases. He gave many examples of different situations about these sicknesses, despite the fact the writing was a little bland. Overall, I would recommend this to someone who can handle the harshness of this book. If you are interested in learning more/about the plagues and enjoy reading historical, non-fiction books, you might enjoy this one.

[Trevor Fong · Rating 4 out of 5]

I thought this book was a very interesting novel because it was very intriguing to learn about the three different Plagues that hit the earth and how the public handled them and how scientist approached these diseases. I thought the book was filled with sadness at first when the Plague hit and killed millions of people in its way and how at the end of both the Black Death and Smallpox which was filled with happiness because they had a cure for these two Plagues (AIDS doesn't have a cure yet). It was a great read learning more in-depth about these Plagues. In addition, I thought it was fascinating learning facts about these Plagues that I never knew about. One that I thought was very interesting was that Magic Johnson contracted HIV which is the virus that causes AIDS. This fact I never knew about until I read the book. Also, I thought it was very interesting that with all of the sadness that came with these Plagues at the end came new advancements in Medicine and a step further in a thriving civilization. Another part that I thought was very intriguing was how the public reacted and how some fled and how others helped the sick even though they could be at risk of the Plague. I thought these valiant humans were very courageous and helpful in a time of need. In one quote on page 195, it says,"Every major plague that has afflicted the world seems to have brought out the best as well as the worst in people." I thought this quote was very interesting on how people reacted to the Plague. I thought this book was a great novel and I recommend this book to people who want more information and more in-depth about the Plagues which includes: The Black Death, Smallpox, and AIDS.

[Ava Morea · Rating 3 out of 5]

An educational yet entertaining nonfiction book by James Cross Giblin, titled "When Plague Strikes," tells the stories of plagues that have striked the world so far. The book tells the stories of three major plagues, The Black Death, Smallpox, and AIDS. Throughout the book, James Cross Giblin explained how each disease was transmitted, the symptoms of each plague, how people reacted to it, and the diseases' cure (if there is one). He also focused on the victims of the plagues and their specific stories.
In the first section of the book, the author talked about the Black Death. The plague was caused by diseases spread through fleas on rats and its symptoms varied through headaches, swelling of lymph nodes, bizarre movements, and blackening of then skin. In all of the plagues, the public reacted by looking for someone to blame. Lastly, he explained how the death rate was 60% and how to treat the disease with antibiotics. In the next section, Giblin wrote on Smallpox. It was transmitted by direct contact with people and caused the Smallpox rash and a high fever. This plague took out 30% of the population, and although it can't be cured, it can be prevented by a vaccine. The last section of the book was one the most recent plague, AIDS. AIDS is spread through sexual contact and causes an infinite amount of symptoms. Although this book gave me lots of new information, the author could have made the book more interesting, since I found myself bored for parts of it. Overall, this book is a great option if you are looking for information on the different plagues, despite the fact that the writing was bland.

[Eric Wickboldt · Rating 1 out of 5]

This was one of the most uninteresting things I've ever read. It was like reading a glorified textbook, that couldn't decide if it was telling a list of details or an actual narration. The book was three sections of long, chronological facts, and it feels as if someone were told to write an interesting story about disease, but that they couldn't put in anything false (I.E. Historical Fiction), so instead there were occasionally just some subjective opinions, like "This was horrible," which were usually true by public consensus, but nonetheless made me trust the fidelity of what I was reading a lot less. The facts were being portrayed in a specific angle, swaying me to one side, which prevented me from forming my own opinions about the content, so I ultimately couldn't get much out of the information. Because I couldn't quite trust the facts, I was instead left to find something engaging about the story or the plot, but because the only things that came out of the writer's imagination were the opinions, there was just nothing there. Not only was any style of writing the book was trying to portray uninteresting to me, but it never committed to any one way of writing. I may not like historical fiction that much, but I can still enjoy a historical fiction book. Here, the book felt like a giant mess, a heap of information that was created to show only one angle in an attempt to make the book gripping, but because the book was never truly gripping in the first place, that aspect failed, and because of this one-sided storytelling, the other, factual aspect failed as well.

[Jackson Abells · Rating 3 out of 5]

When Plague Strikes is book explaining the history of the Black Death, Smallpox, and AIDS, as of 1995. The book was written by James Cross Giblin and has some beautifully illustrated woodcuts by David Frampton in that are placed to transition between diseases. Something this book excels at is being able to explain these diseases and their various effects in a simple, yet effective way. This book also gives interesting facts about the diseases, tells important stories, and explains the social and political effects of the disease along side the scientific. Since the book was published in 1995, the information on AIDS is outdated. Going into the book I was wondering how well it has aged and whether or not something might be considered homophobic by today's standards. I was surprised to see that I didn't pick up on anything homophobic except for one subtle detail. When quoting people, the book censor words like "fucking" but not homophobic slurs. While the book itself never says any slurs and only quotes them in a negative light, it still chooses to censor words that don't harm anyone, yet censor words that come at the expense of a minority. Something like that can be really harmful, especially in a book for children.

[Dylan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Although I don't usually read nonfiction writing, I thoroughly enjoyed "When Plague Strikes" by James Cross Giblin. I found not only just the content of the book interesting, but also Giblin's style of writing. Giblin writes the book in a way that truly paints a picture of what each epidemic (Black Death, Smallpox, or AIDS) was like and how it affected the people who came into contact with it. I recommend this book to anyone who finds plagues interesting, likes the history of ancient civilizations, or has a interest in how people react when faced with crises or other difficult situations. At my school, when it was announced that we were going to have to read this book, there were many profound and distinct groans and sighs. However, the book was a complete contrast to what we all thought it was going to be. "When Plagues Strikes" was interesting, engaging, and overall a fun read. My favorite part of the book was when the disease Black Death was written about and explained. Giblin did a great job of taking a usually boring topic and turning it into an engaging and overall great narrative, and for that, I am thankful.

[Jared de Monteiro · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was definitely a new style that I have never experienced before. It tackled three of the most famous disease in history: Black Death, Small Pox, and Aids. The author Giblin informs the reader what kind of diseases they are, how they spread, and how it affected the world. Black Death is definitely one of the scariest disease, killing nearly 1/3 of the human population. Small Pox is a disease they is still common today. Thanks to modern techonology and medicine, we are able to have vaccinations to prevent it. Similar to back then where they used a technique called inoculation. In inoculation, they gave a healthy patient a small part of the disease, and once they recovered, they would be immune to it. AIDS is also a very common disease that still happens today. It spreads mostly from unprotected intercourse, using dirty needles, or from mother to child. Many people are affected by AIDS. All of these diseases had a huge impact on our history, and is still happening today. This book was very interesting and I learned a lot from it.

[Janine · Rating 3 out of 5]

This well-written book hooks the reader with many different examples of human actions during a crisis. Although I personally would not choose to read this on my own, I would recommend it to anyone looking for an interesting nonfiction story about our ways of communication throughout many years. The book seems unfinished, though. There is an extra chapter at the end that seems misplaced and not meant to be there. As informative and interesting as it is, I felt as if the book was missing a whole section talking about this newfound illness. The amount of evidence of the fear surrounding a crisis was what most amazed me. There were many things in this book that I already knew from past books and other things, but there were many other details that quickly brought me into the story of humankind versus disease. For anyone interested in medical science, "When Plague Strikes: The Black Death, Smallpox, AIDS" by James Cross Giblin is a must-read.

[Andrew MC · Rating 3 out of 5]

We had to read this book for science and take notes on it. Already not starting off so good. What I found was an enjoyable and very interesting read for the most part. The book covers three of the worst diseases to ever stumble upon the face of the Earth: The Black Death, Smallpox, and AIDS (which was the most recent deadly disease at the time it was written I believe but don't quote me on that). It was very interesting and really well-written for it doesn't just spew out facts after facts. The most interesting section for me was the AIDS for it happened it in rather modern times and was the only disease in the book that doesn't really end with the happy ending. AIDS has no official treatment and the two most interesting stories came from the AIDS section. So overall, this book is just an educational read that doesn't offer much other than informing the audience. It wasn't bad, but I wouldn't be reading this book anytime soon.

[Grace · Rating 4 out of 5]

For a nonfiction book, I thought it had a lot of life to it and it kind of felt like a fiction book. It does use a lot of description and exposition when it explains the public reaction to diseases. To me, my favorite public reaction was the bubonic plague because it was interesting to see how people responded back then when they did not really know much. I appreciate how it is in alphabetical order and how much information each section provides. It feels as if we could use the book like an encyclopedia. The writing is very detailed so after I read it, I realized how scary epidemics can become and I understand how they are transmitted. The book not only contains diseases, it also reflects human nature and how insane people can act such as throwing corpses to infect people and kill them. It was also a bit forlorn when it comes to the suffering of people. In conclusion, I actually enjoyed the book a lot and I recommend it.

[Deren Suntur · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was one of the first non-fiction books that I read and actually enjoyed without getting bored once. I doubt it's the best book on the subject but it's a great starting point for those who want to learn more about these plagues. It doesn't have too many boring statistics and difficult terminology and focuses more on how it affected the communities. I love how the book not only talked about the causes of these diseases but also how the people reacted to them, how it was solved, and how the communities were affected. I especially found the parts about people blaming minorities for causing these diseases just because they couldn't figure out what was happening and the only thing they could think of was that those people had done something. I also found it interesting that every community reacted similarly despite all of these diseases being found hundreds (if not thousands) of years apart.

[Stanley · Rating 3 out of 5]

The writing in this book was very effective because it didn't really have any plot and was more of an informative book. However, I also think the writing was powerful because the author went over the three main epidemics which have come up on earth. A strength of this book was giving the reader lots of good information from different perspectives around the world. A weakness of this book was keeping the reader interested. Although this book wasn't unbearably boring, I would have enjoyed the book more if there were some plot or just something rather than pure information. I highly doubt that this book will be a series, but if it did, I wouldn't read it because I'm not so interested in learning about these diseases. This book would be good for those who enjoy science and learning about how our planet works.

[Kailani Reis-Weiland · Rating 3 out of 5]

"When Plague Strikes: The Black Death, Smallpox, AIDS" was extremely informative. The book was split into three sections about the epidemics in the title. Despite being nonfiction and having no plot, the book was not completely dull. However, I would not choose to read this book over most fiction novels, no matter how well written this book was. (That is just my personal preference, though.)

In each section, the author covers topics such as transmission of the disease, what causes it, and the havoc it wreaked when its victims could not find treatments. Because this book was written in 1995, it is not up-to-date with the latest medical research and advancements, but it provides lots of facts about how these diseases started, previous death rates, and more. Good read if you're interested in epidemics!

[Connor · Rating 5 out of 5]

The book When Plague Strikes: The Black Death, Smallpox, AIDS by James Cross Giblin is an amazing book. The book portrays so much detail as well as factual evidence on these pandemics, and epidemics that have killed so many people. It explains when they started, how they started, where they started, how they spread, how the people re acted, and much more. These many facts that are super import to history, science, and most importantly the medical field. They start out talking about the pandemic Black Death. After that he then moves onto the pandemic of smallpox. Lastly he talks about the epidemic of HIV/AIDS. Overall the book was an amazing book to read. Not only is it just a well written and formatted book. It is detailed and filled with very factual evidence. The book portrays the idea of the author very well. Leading to why I give and rate this book a 5 out of 5 stars.

[Sidney Wingert · Rating 4 out of 5]

The astonishing book entitled "When Plague Strikes" by James Cross Giblin came across many different topics talking about The Black Death, Smallpox, and AIDS. I am not one to be interested in non fiction stories but this one caught my eye because of the realism. It talks about the spread of diseases and death through countries that is really shameful and heartbreaking. The Black Death, featured in this book was something that caught my eye in middle school. I was glad that I got to look more in depth and read into it. It really takes a lot of work to get all the information and facts for non fiction stories, so props to those who write them. A lot of time and effort. If you haven't read "When Plague Strikes" already, I would highly recommend you take a look at it. It is intriguing to see when these diseases were shaped, formed, and why. Also where they came from!

[Marquez Kuan · Rating 4 out of 5]

The book " When the plague strikes: The black death, smallpox, AIDS" by James Cross Giblin is a very good book that perfectly explains the past and how these dangerous viruses and diseases spread, how they were dealt with, and how they were transmitted, The black death was caused by flees on rats that soonly spread on to humans, these fleas carried a disease they got from sucking the blood of black rats. Smallpox was a virus that was transmitted through the air. AIDS were spread by sexual activity and contaminated blood. It reversed the affects of the T cells, they were the only thing that could fight it off. The author published this book to teach people of huge epidemic viruses and diseases that took place a long time ago. It taught people what effect it had on people and the world. These things had a huge impact on peoples lives.

[Jacob Fippin · Rating 2 out of 5]

When Plague Strikes is an okay book that explores three great epidemics in the last 1000 years, the Black Death, Smallpox, and AIDS. It explores the origins of these diseases and effects of these diseases as well as advances in science, like inoculations and vaccines. Although the book has good information on how these diseases effected people and society, that's all it really has. It doesn't give any reason to come back other than the desire for a higher science grade. Reading it is boring at best, sometimes even close to painful. Although it isn't the worst book I've ever read, the only thing separating it from the worst is that it is actually readable. When Plague Strikes doesn't really seem to know it's target audience, it's written like a children's book, but without the parts that are interesting to children. I would not recommend this book to anyone who wants to read a good book.

[Michael Lambrecht · Rating 4 out of 5]

The book When Plague Strikes by James Cross Giblin is a book about The Black Plague, Smallpox, and AIDS. The Black Plague or Bulbonic Plague was a plague that killed half of the citizens of Europe and killed thousands more. It was so devastating that it wiped out both the Aztecs and the Incas. Smallpox first originated in Egypt but the Egyptians managed to free themselves of it. Later on, explorers went into the tomb of a long dead smallpox infected pharaoh and spread the disease to civilians.
I liked the book because I learned a lot about some really devastating diseases that could potentially come up again. There is not anything that i would change about this book.
I think that people who like history and plagues would enjoy this book because most of the book is talking about historic events and the effect on the world that the plagues had.