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Science Comics
Plagues: The Microscopic Battlefield
Writer/illustrator Falynn Koch’s Science Comics: Plagues takes readers across the microscopic battlefield to get to know the critters behind history’s worst diseases. We delve into the biology and mechanisms of infections, diseases, and immunity, and also the incredible effect that technology and medical science have had on humanity’s ability to contain and treat disease.
Every volume of Science Comics offers a complete introduction to a particular topic—dinosaurs, coral reefs, the solar system, volcanoes, bats, flying machines, and more. These gorgeously illustrated graphic novels offer wildly entertaining views of their subjects. Whether you’re a fourth grader doing a natural science unit at school or a thirty-year-old with a secret passion for airplanes, these books are for you!
Every volume of Science Comics offers a complete introduction to a particular topic—dinosaurs, coral reefs, the solar system, volcanoes, bats, flying machines, and more. These gorgeously illustrated graphic novels offer wildly entertaining views of their subjects. Whether you’re a fourth grader doing a natural science unit at school or a thirty-year-old with a secret passion for airplanes, these books are for you!
128 pages, Hardcover
First published August 29, 2017
78 people are currently reading
695 people want to read
About the author
Falynn Koch
13 books5 followersFalynn Koch can be an illustrator, comic book artist, or storyteller, depending on when you ask. Born in Buffalo, New York, she then went everywhere, near and far, and wound up in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, with her two dogs and her fiancé. She graduated with a degree in sequential art from SCAD. Her favorite things to draw are illogical mythological creatures.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 92 reviews
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August 29, 2017In this volume we get to know the critters behind history's worst diseases. We delve into the biology and mechanisms of infections, diseases, and immunity, and also the incredible effect that technology and medical science have had on humanity's ability to contain and treat disease.
November 17, 2019
Biology and comics. What more could you want in life. Love
June 18, 2023
I loved the plot of this book.
I found it really interesting.
And it's funny but you ended up liking the main characters who are also plague germs. The particular main character germs in this book are Bubonic Plague AKA the Black Death. And Yellow Fever.
The body is so neat!
And in a weird and scary way so are plagues and germs. Like what they do to the body is so neat and terrifying!
Also learning about how over time life has changed with hygiene is awesome. I knew hygiene was important but just learning about it was cool and the significance it has had on our lives.
I also learned some new things I personally never knew before. Such as the difference between Inoculation and Vaccination! And of course, I learned many other things as well in the process.
Overall this was a really interesting book to read!
February 21, 2022
I learned a lot with the book but I think the format was a bit weird. I didn't really like the scientist talking to the anthropomorphized Yellow Fever and Bubonic Plague. It took away from the information presented, in my opinion. I think that much needed to be simplified for the intended audience as I found it hard to follow in some places and I've definitely taken more science classes than a middle schooler. I think A Shot in the Arm! did a better job of explaining a lot of the information that is in this book. Not my favorite science comic.
December 16, 2020
I loved this book! I read it three times. I love it. - G, age 8
September 6, 2017
http://openbooksociety.com/article/sc...
Science Comics: Plagues: The Microscopic Battlefield
Science Comics
By Falynn Christine Koch
ISBN: 9781626727526
Author’s Website: http://www.falynnk.com/
Brought to you by OBS reviewer Andra
Summary
In PLAGUES, we get to know the critters behind history’s worst diseases. We delve into the biology and mechanisms of infections, diseases, and immunity, and also the incredible effect that technology and medical science have had on humanity’s ability to contain and treat disease.
Review
This is my first foray into graphic novels. SCIENCE COMICS: PLAGUES is a journey through history describing the how’s of infections, diseases and our immunity. Entertaining in such a way that I was also able to follow the educational aspect without getting bored or confused.
Bubonic Plague and Yellow Fever are dropped into a host (so they believe) and promptly begin their attach on the body. As they proceed (unsuccessfully I might add) they are quickly interrupted by a white blood cell. Given that the white blood cell is there to fight off infection and disease, the depiction of the white blood cell is fitting – the cartoon character looks like a linebacker. Humour is sprinkled throughout the dialogue…for example, when the white blood cell is describing both bubonic plague and yellow fever to Elena during a bit of a scuffle he says – “They have the critical thinking power of Jello”.
The artwork is cartoony with the characters drawn with simplicity yet with just enough detail, capturing the individuality of each of the characters/diseases:
I appreciated the glossary at the end of the book providing a concise and easily understood definitions of what was discussed throughout the book, with pictures. Good for visual learners.
With the author presenting complex scientific concepts by using illustrations and humour, I was able to understand the concepts more easily and hopefully I will be able retain this information for a long period of time ☺. I would like to think that if I had had this book available when studying these concepts in school, I would have understood and enjoyed the learning even more than I did.
This book is for anyone who wishes to learn about plagues, infections, diseases in an entertaining and educational manner and enjoys comic books.
*OBS would like to thank the publisher for supplying a free copy of this title in exchange for an honest review*
Science Comics: Plagues: The Microscopic Battlefield
Science Comics
By Falynn Christine Koch
ISBN: 9781626727526
Author’s Website: http://www.falynnk.com/
Brought to you by OBS reviewer Andra
Summary
In PLAGUES, we get to know the critters behind history’s worst diseases. We delve into the biology and mechanisms of infections, diseases, and immunity, and also the incredible effect that technology and medical science have had on humanity’s ability to contain and treat disease.
Review
This is my first foray into graphic novels. SCIENCE COMICS: PLAGUES is a journey through history describing the how’s of infections, diseases and our immunity. Entertaining in such a way that I was also able to follow the educational aspect without getting bored or confused.
Bubonic Plague and Yellow Fever are dropped into a host (so they believe) and promptly begin their attach on the body. As they proceed (unsuccessfully I might add) they are quickly interrupted by a white blood cell. Given that the white blood cell is there to fight off infection and disease, the depiction of the white blood cell is fitting – the cartoon character looks like a linebacker. Humour is sprinkled throughout the dialogue…for example, when the white blood cell is describing both bubonic plague and yellow fever to Elena during a bit of a scuffle he says – “They have the critical thinking power of Jello”.
The artwork is cartoony with the characters drawn with simplicity yet with just enough detail, capturing the individuality of each of the characters/diseases:
I appreciated the glossary at the end of the book providing a concise and easily understood definitions of what was discussed throughout the book, with pictures. Good for visual learners.
With the author presenting complex scientific concepts by using illustrations and humour, I was able to understand the concepts more easily and hopefully I will be able retain this information for a long period of time ☺. I would like to think that if I had had this book available when studying these concepts in school, I would have understood and enjoyed the learning even more than I did.
This book is for anyone who wishes to learn about plagues, infections, diseases in an entertaining and educational manner and enjoys comic books.
*OBS would like to thank the publisher for supplying a free copy of this title in exchange for an honest review*
March 21, 2021
3.5 stars. Confusing at times with the flow of the story, but still learned quite a bit!!
August 26, 2017
Plagues: The Microscopic Battlefield by Falynn Christine Koch is part of the SCIENCE COMICS series, a graphics series of books each of which explores a single scientific topic. In this case, as the title might indicate, its plague, but more broadly it’s an examination of how pathogens (bacteria, viruses, fungi, protozoa, parasites) infect and damage the human body, how the body (sometimes with medical help) tries to fight them off, and, to a lesser degree, how such illnesses have affected human history.
Plagues begins a bit roughly. The frame story is an unnecessarily confusing bit involving conversations inside a virtual body (that somehow still gets sick from virtual germs?) between the scientist whose virtual body it is, a T-cell, and two plagues—yellow fever and bubonic plague. The plagues are just as confused as most readers probably will be, but while the frame story still is an obstacle to clarity and fluidity now and then, once it’s mostly left behind the text becomes more expository and straightforward, and thus more clear, with the scientist explaining how medicine has progressed with regard to germs, the T-cell explaining the immune system responses, and the germ explaining how they attack the body and their various types and shapes. The language might at times be a bit much for the very young, but YA will be fine and MG will get either all or the vast majority of what is being said. There’s also a helpful glossary toward the end.
Stylistically, it’s pretty text heavy and, as noted, straightforward. The attempts at conversational tone or humor I didn’t find all that successful (at times I might even call it detrimental), and I wouldn’t call it the most engaging text, but it is certainly informative and, for the most part, clear and logical. In particular I liked the historical bits, as when the virtual simulation becomes a medieval street for instance to show how the lack of sanitation aided the pathogens.
The art is not particularly aesthetic (of course, these are germs), and in the muddled frame story not very helpful, but similar to the narrative, once the frame is somewhat dropped and the artist is able to broaden the palette so to speak, the artwork becomes more clear and does a nice job of conveying meaning or supplementing the text. The medieval street is one such example. An even better one is the drawing of a medieval plague doctor in a large panel as it’s being explained how their “uniform” actually protected them from the plague, though the doctors themselves thought that to be the case for all the wrong reasons.
I would have preferred a smoother, more clear entry into the exploration of the topic, and it’s too bad that the book somewhat fights against itself in terms of clarity and engagement early on, but if one can get a reader past that point, then Plagues is a nice detailed and informative text to introduce young readers to the topic.
Plagues begins a bit roughly. The frame story is an unnecessarily confusing bit involving conversations inside a virtual body (that somehow still gets sick from virtual germs?) between the scientist whose virtual body it is, a T-cell, and two plagues—yellow fever and bubonic plague. The plagues are just as confused as most readers probably will be, but while the frame story still is an obstacle to clarity and fluidity now and then, once it’s mostly left behind the text becomes more expository and straightforward, and thus more clear, with the scientist explaining how medicine has progressed with regard to germs, the T-cell explaining the immune system responses, and the germ explaining how they attack the body and their various types and shapes. The language might at times be a bit much for the very young, but YA will be fine and MG will get either all or the vast majority of what is being said. There’s also a helpful glossary toward the end.
Stylistically, it’s pretty text heavy and, as noted, straightforward. The attempts at conversational tone or humor I didn’t find all that successful (at times I might even call it detrimental), and I wouldn’t call it the most engaging text, but it is certainly informative and, for the most part, clear and logical. In particular I liked the historical bits, as when the virtual simulation becomes a medieval street for instance to show how the lack of sanitation aided the pathogens.
The art is not particularly aesthetic (of course, these are germs), and in the muddled frame story not very helpful, but similar to the narrative, once the frame is somewhat dropped and the artist is able to broaden the palette so to speak, the artwork becomes more clear and does a nice job of conveying meaning or supplementing the text. The medieval street is one such example. An even better one is the drawing of a medieval plague doctor in a large panel as it’s being explained how their “uniform” actually protected them from the plague, though the doctors themselves thought that to be the case for all the wrong reasons.
I would have preferred a smoother, more clear entry into the exploration of the topic, and it’s too bad that the book somewhat fights against itself in terms of clarity and engagement early on, but if one can get a reader past that point, then Plagues is a nice detailed and informative text to introduce young readers to the topic.
August 10, 2018
I LOVED this book because it was very Very VERY informative. It had TONS of information in it. It was about plagues. In this book someone made an AI thing that can simulate anything even yourself! If something happens in the simulation, it happens in your body. A woman was trying to convince plagues to become antibiotics. Along the way the plagues told the woman facts about themselves.
April 11, 2020
Well, little did I know when my kids and I were reading this book how much it would relate to our personal life in less than a month!
In our homeschooling, we had been doing an in-depth study of the Black Plague- the science of plagues, the history and economic devastation that occurred and the social upheaval that took place.
This comic book impressed me with its detail and thorough explanation of viruses and plagues. But it also showed what scientists are currently working on to help the spread of plague in the future.
With the corona virus now infecting the entire world, my kid and I have a more thorough knowledge of how viruses spread and can look at examples from history to see how we might learn from the past.
In our homeschooling, we had been doing an in-depth study of the Black Plague- the science of plagues, the history and economic devastation that occurred and the social upheaval that took place.
This comic book impressed me with its detail and thorough explanation of viruses and plagues. But it also showed what scientists are currently working on to help the spread of plague in the future.
With the corona virus now infecting the entire world, my kid and I have a more thorough knowledge of how viruses spread and can look at examples from history to see how we might learn from the past.
April 21, 2021
The framing device in this book is just plain not good. A scientist is literally having a conversation with a bubonic plague bacterium and yellow fever virus by using some vaguely defined but clearly holodeck inspired technology, with the end goal of convincing both to volunteer to have positive medical applications. It's complicated, it doesn't really make sense, and the editorial stance that yellow fever could be good actually sits weirdly. Which is all a shame, because this book is still very informative about what diseases actually are and how the body tries to fight them. I do wonder if Koch would have leaned so heavily on funny, cute germs if this had been written in 2020 instead of 2017, though.
January 14, 2018
While I like the series SCIENCE COMICS I thought "The Microscopic Battlefield" was a little tough to follow. The science was complex enough with so many strains of viruses, bacteria, fungi, and flagella to keep track of, but the authors wanted us to follow the story of the scientists who use simulations to study them. I found the banter between humans and microbes a bit distracting, but learning about Bubonic plagues and Yellow Fever were fascinating. I kept wondering who the intended audience was-older students might follow the science but the design and illustrations looks like it was addressing younger readers. Still, I think there is a lot for students to take away from this and enjoy.
July 25, 2021
Starts out a bit confusing, too many terms defined at the beginning, seems like a neccessary evil, but not sure how young readers would see this. As you read on, the terms help reading the the text make sense. Good overview of the the "bugs" that cause plague.
August 6, 2021
This book is about plagues and I don't think I would suggest it to someone.
October 13, 2021
Not one of the strongest Science Comics entries. I typically really enjoy this series for their combination of informative and entertaining content, and Plagues had a lot going for it in some senses: the premise of a holographic simulation space wherein scientists can actually interface directly with germs was creative and immediately hooked my interest, for example. Through the characters of Yellow Fever, Bubonic Plague, White Blood Cell, and Elena, a scientist, author Koch managed to impart a ton of great information about the history of various plagues, how the human body fights off infections, how vectors, antibodies, and antibiotics work, etc.
Unfortunately, the vast majority of people depicted in Plagues, from scientists to villagers shown in historical flashbacks, were White and the book took a Eurocentric viewpoint throughout. For example, despite briefly writing and showing on pages 84 and 85 that people in Asia, the Indian subcontinent, and Africa, had all invented and practiced forms of inoculation against disease for centuries, earlier parts of the book focus for pages and pages both on European ignorance of how germs and diseases functioned and White European scientists and inventors who later documented how diseases functioned, created antibiotics, etc. The overwhelming focus on European histories of disease really troubled me in this book, as did the minimization of the use *by* Europeans of biological warfare against Indigenous North American communities (the "discussion" of which takes up a mere 2 panels out of a book more than 100 pages long!). Finally on page 77 there is a similarly brief but problematic discussion of how yellow fever "had little effect on people with dark skin." Koch writes that "People with dark skin in Philadelphia at this time were slaves, or former slaves. They came from places where yellow fever was common, and had developed an immunity to it as children." Naturally, I wondered as I read about the many free and enslaved Black people who had lived their entire lives in North America. Did they have immunity to yellow fever? Furthermore, I wondered why Koch hadn't simply referred to "Black people" instead of the awkward (and not necessarily accurate) "people with dark skin." It's passages like these that can turn a book that is otherwise informative and engaging into one which I wouldn't recommend to children unless I knew they'd be reading it alongside an adult equipped to help them critically question the book's biases and assumptions.
Unfortunately, the vast majority of people depicted in Plagues, from scientists to villagers shown in historical flashbacks, were White and the book took a Eurocentric viewpoint throughout. For example, despite briefly writing and showing on pages 84 and 85 that people in Asia, the Indian subcontinent, and Africa, had all invented and practiced forms of inoculation against disease for centuries, earlier parts of the book focus for pages and pages both on European ignorance of how germs and diseases functioned and White European scientists and inventors who later documented how diseases functioned, created antibiotics, etc. The overwhelming focus on European histories of disease really troubled me in this book, as did the minimization of the use *by* Europeans of biological warfare against Indigenous North American communities (the "discussion" of which takes up a mere 2 panels out of a book more than 100 pages long!). Finally on page 77 there is a similarly brief but problematic discussion of how yellow fever "had little effect on people with dark skin." Koch writes that "People with dark skin in Philadelphia at this time were slaves, or former slaves. They came from places where yellow fever was common, and had developed an immunity to it as children." Naturally, I wondered as I read about the many free and enslaved Black people who had lived their entire lives in North America. Did they have immunity to yellow fever? Furthermore, I wondered why Koch hadn't simply referred to "Black people" instead of the awkward (and not necessarily accurate) "people with dark skin." It's passages like these that can turn a book that is otherwise informative and engaging into one which I wouldn't recommend to children unless I knew they'd be reading it alongside an adult equipped to help them critically question the book's biases and assumptions.
May 10, 2018
Koch, Falynn Science Comics: Plagues: the Microscopic Battlefield, 122 pages. NON-FICTION/GRAPHIC NOVEL. First Second, 2017. $13.
A female scientist and her ECHO team have created technology that allows them to speak to germs, bacteria, viruses, ect. They created a simulated environment which allows them to learn about the immune system and how the bubonic plague and the Yellow fever plague interact. Together with a T cell and a variety of guests –the reader learns the in’s and out’s of the immune system and a whole lot about the history of plagues.
This isn’t the first book from the Science comics series I have reviewed but by far the most interesting topic –and I am still not a fan. It reads like a textbook that someone tried to inject some fun into. It got technical and confusing very quickly, the only parts I enjoyed were the historical components –I don’t think young readers will stick with it long enough to make it that far. The illustrations are busy and often small.
EL, MS – OPTIONAL Stephanie, Elementary School Librarian & Author
https://kissthebook.blogspot.com/2018...
A female scientist and her ECHO team have created technology that allows them to speak to germs, bacteria, viruses, ect. They created a simulated environment which allows them to learn about the immune system and how the bubonic plague and the Yellow fever plague interact. Together with a T cell and a variety of guests –the reader learns the in’s and out’s of the immune system and a whole lot about the history of plagues.
This isn’t the first book from the Science comics series I have reviewed but by far the most interesting topic –and I am still not a fan. It reads like a textbook that someone tried to inject some fun into. It got technical and confusing very quickly, the only parts I enjoyed were the historical components –I don’t think young readers will stick with it long enough to make it that far. The illustrations are busy and often small.
EL, MS – OPTIONAL Stephanie, Elementary School Librarian & Author
https://kissthebook.blogspot.com/2018...
June 12, 2020
Although this graphic novel was published in 2017, it seems particularly relevant these days during the COVID-19 crisis and the current pandemic. The book highlights the body's immune system and provides some historical context on various epidemics and diseases, discussing malaria, small pox, yellow fever, and the bubonic plague as well as sources of contagion. Featuring Elena, an epidemologist in the future, the pages follow her efforts to understand these plagues and to recruit Yellow Fever and Bubonic Plague to join her team. As is the case with all the books in this particular series, there are colorful illustrations and an interesting story line as well as snippets of history and science that are provided in an easy-to-digest and sometimes humorous fashion. Maybe some young reader will be inspired by this book to get involved in future efforts to combat the viruses that will surely assail humanity. I always find it interesting to consider how certain diseases that once plagued our world no longer have much relevance while other, new plagues arise. Science is ever fascinating. Add this one to your science classroom library.
September 8, 2022
Not my favorite Science Comic. Like Dogs, it kind of jumps off the scientific deep end, with complex ideas and words that there just isn't space to explain--like "undifferentiated cells", "platelets", and "myeloid cells", which are used in sentences but undefined. The book's setup also takes up more space than in other Science Comics (though it's pretty cool): a scientist and a T white blood cell meet bubonic plague and yellow fever cells in a holographic human body to try to recruit them to help fight other diseases. With the holograph setup, readers also get to see times and places in history when plagues were worst, when humans practiced biological warfare, and when public health advocates started figuring out variolation, inoculation, and vaccination. Once we're over the technical hump and talking about history and how cells fight each other, it's easier to understand and enjoy--but, as with Dogs, some readers might not have the patience to get there.
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September 20, 2023How? Another 120p of complicated Science Comics, read to the boy in 3 days.
What? A researcher tries to convince a Yellow Fever and a Bubonic Plague to help humanity by giving a virtual tour of her body and the history of disease and medicine. This is another Science Comic with a slight narrative frame, but also might be a little distracting since it's this futuristic setting.
Also, tragically for this book, it came out in 2017, so no covid info. I wonder if it had any sales spike?
Yeah, so? Since "plague" is a generic term, this book sets out to cover bacteria, viruses, protozoans, and fungi, so there's a lot of background cell biology that they kind of take for granted re: organelles and cell membranes, not to mention human anatomy and cells (why yellow fever attacking the liver turns you yellow).
That said, I enjoyed voicing the duo of excitable ditz Yellow Fever and hardened Brooklyn con Bubonic Plague.
What? A researcher tries to convince a Yellow Fever and a Bubonic Plague to help humanity by giving a virtual tour of her body and the history of disease and medicine. This is another Science Comic with a slight narrative frame, but also might be a little distracting since it's this futuristic setting.
Also, tragically for this book, it came out in 2017, so no covid info. I wonder if it had any sales spike?
Yeah, so? Since "plague" is a generic term, this book sets out to cover bacteria, viruses, protozoans, and fungi, so there's a lot of background cell biology that they kind of take for granted re: organelles and cell membranes, not to mention human anatomy and cells (why yellow fever attacking the liver turns you yellow).
That said, I enjoyed voicing the duo of excitable ditz Yellow Fever and hardened Brooklyn con Bubonic Plague.
December 3, 2018
Science Comics are my new favorite series. This one was as gross as it was informative (even in illustrated form, you might need a strong stomach to get through this one!) It followed the history mostly of bubonic plague and yellow fever, but dabbled in all manner of bacteria, viruses, protozoa and fungi - explaining how they make us sick, how they spread, and how science can contain them. I didn't expect it to be funny but there were many laugh-out-loud moments - like when one poor guy gets all three types of plague and states "I don't look so good..." or when the yellow fever character "boops" a rat on the nose! Also just the fact that throughout, the Yellow Fever character refers to the Bubonic Plague character as "Bub" hahaha. Loved it!
January 29, 2018
I'm a big fan of the Science Comics series, but this entry is undercooked (there's a better, illness-related joke there, but I just can't think of it at the moment). The framing device revolves around a scientist who has recruited anthropomorphized versions of the black plague and yellow fever to be cadets in a disease-fighting force. Shoehorned into a lot of weird conversations between germs and humans are various facts about bacteria, viruses, and other assorted tiny nasties. That part of the book is fascinating, but any time we return to the framing story, all momentum and interest is lost.
February 25, 2025
Really well-illustrated, and an admirable attempt to try and lodge the different concepts in the reader's memory with the shrinking/germ as saviour ideas. Some of the immunity/germ fighting processes were really well explained.
Unfortunately, as someone who had little understanding of biology and disease coming into this, I would have appreciated a slightly less complicated premise....I'm also not a fan of sciency graphic novels that devolve in parts to multi-page spreads of definitions in text. I feel like there is probably a more creative way to do that without losing the flow of the explainer, as inevitably all the definitions are lost from memory anyway.
Unfortunately, as someone who had little understanding of biology and disease coming into this, I would have appreciated a slightly less complicated premise....I'm also not a fan of sciency graphic novels that devolve in parts to multi-page spreads of definitions in text. I feel like there is probably a more creative way to do that without losing the flow of the explainer, as inevitably all the definitions are lost from memory anyway.
July 28, 2017
I really enjoyed this graphic novel. The set up for this book was very interesting and would be an excellent book for students to read. It really goes into the science of plagues and germs and the different types or microorganisms. It also explores some of the newer science and where we may be going and how humans relationships with disease has and keeps changing. If you have a kid who loves science this series is something you need to look into. I did recieve a copy of this graphic novel from Net Galley in exchange for a review. This book is scheduled to be published August 29th.
December 21, 2017
I have mixed feelings about this book. First, the illustrations are great, eye-catching and the characters have been developed in an interesting way. However, the text is very science heavy, which is good, except the average reader will likely have a hard time focusing and absorbing what is actually being talked about. There isn't much of a plot for the first half of the book (as far as I could tell), which made it hard for me to get into the book. I did learn some new things though, and it grabbed my attention more as the book went on (talking about the history of some diseases).
May 17, 2019
This is an interesting way to disseminate information about not just how your immune system reacts to germs, but the history and methods in which we used to study germs have evolved. The content was a teeny bit dry for the younger crowd, but alas I am almost 30 so I finished this book in a day. Good, solid info, entertaining and easy to understand.
I recommend this to budding nonfiction nerds, graphic novel enthusiasts who need some help with cell structure, and people who like to learn about body systems in general.
I recommend this to budding nonfiction nerds, graphic novel enthusiasts who need some help with cell structure, and people who like to learn about body systems in general.
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January 29, 2020Hi everyone! I'm working for a Russian website Papmambook.ru dedicated to children's books and children's reading. We've been building the English version of the website and recently published an article on Plagues: The Microscopic Battlefield. The author read the book with her young son and talks about what they were able to learn from it. Here's the link if you want to check it out.
September 27, 2017
Fantastic graphic novel describing how viruses and bacteria function. Delves both in to the science of plagues and how they spread as well as the history and how vaccines and inoculations were developed to fight them. I enjoyed the process of the scientist talking to the germs to enlist them in helping to fight other diseases as that is what many labs are doing- albeit not in quite the futuristic way they are presenting. Very enjoyable and informative!
(SRA 2018?)
(SRA 2018?)
November 18, 2019
Highly educational and surprising well written and illustrated. Walking away from this particular book you will come along with a bunch of fun filled facts in relation to bacterium, helpful vaccines, and several detailed looks into the structure of multiple cells. The way the comic is illustrated keeps the reader entertained all while cramming that added bit of knowledge within. Amazing! After reading this one, I'm looking forward to reading the rest of the series. ^__^
April 11, 2020
I just finished reading this with my two young boys. There was a lot of complex info that went way over their heads, but they did enjoy the fun aspects of the story, which kept them entertained even when they didn't understand everything. This was published way before COVID-19 came into our lives, but it ended up being the perfect thing to read during these times, since we're going through a lot of what's depicted in the book in real life. It was very interesting, and I learned a lot!
April 27, 2020
The biggest problem with this book is that is rife with errors and misleading explanations. Penicillin, for example, may have originally come from a fungus but it is not itself a fungus. Even without errors that someone who had taken a good high school biology class wouldn't have made, the book isn't very good. I found the side plot involving a research lab to be distracting and the Scrappy-Doo-like behavior of the virus is annoying.
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