What do you think?
Rate this book
VIRAL: The Fight Against AIDS in America
Groundbreaking narrative nonfiction for teens that tells the story of the AIDS crisis in America.
Thirty-five years ago, it was a modern-day, mysterious plague. Its earliest victims were mostly gay men, some of the most marginalized people in the country; at its peak in America, it killed tens of thousands of people. The losses were staggering, the science frightening, and the government's inaction unforgivable. The AIDS Crisis fundamentally changed the fabric of the United States.
Viral presents the history of the AIDS crisis through the lens of the brave victims and activists who demanded action and literally fought for their lives. This compassionate but unflinching text explores everything from the disease's origins and how it spread to the activism it inspired and how the world confronts HIV and AIDS today.
Thirty-five years ago, it was a modern-day, mysterious plague. Its earliest victims were mostly gay men, some of the most marginalized people in the country; at its peak in America, it killed tens of thousands of people. The losses were staggering, the science frightening, and the government's inaction unforgivable. The AIDS Crisis fundamentally changed the fabric of the United States.
Viral presents the history of the AIDS crisis through the lens of the brave victims and activists who demanded action and literally fought for their lives. This compassionate but unflinching text explores everything from the disease's origins and how it spread to the activism it inspired and how the world confronts HIV and AIDS today.
176 pages, Hardcover
Published June 4, 2019
12 people are currently reading
311 people want to read
About the author
Ann Bausum
28 books110 followersAnn Bausum writes about history for readers of all ages from her home in southern Wisconsin. Her works often focus on under-told stories from the past, and she frequently explores issues of social justice.
Her newest title, The March Against Fear (National Geographic: 2017), is her third work to examine the civil rights movement in the American South. In the case of these and other books, Bausum strives to bring the nation’s social justice history to life in ways that empower and inspire readers young and old alike. Her previous title, Stonewall (Viking: 2015), is among the first nonfiction books to introduce teens to gay rights history. Previous works have explored voting rights, immigration, and free speech, among other topics.
The almost-forgotten story of Stubby lured Bausum away from social justice history temporarily. She wrote twin titles about the stray dog smuggled to Europe during World War I who returned to a hero’s welcome. Both books were published in 2014 by National Geographic: Sergeant Stubby (for adult readers) and Stubby the War Dog (for children).
In the spring of 2017, the Children’s Book Guild of Washington, D.C., will honor the body of Bausum’s work by presenting her with its venerable Nonfiction Award. This award recognizes the consistent commendation earned by her individual titles through the years. Bausum’s books have appeared consistently on lists of recommended and notable titles and have earned numerous literary awards including a Sibert Honor Award, the Jane Addams Children’s Book Award, the Carter G. Woodson Award (on two occasions), and the SCBWI Golden Kite Award. In 2015, she was named the year’s Notable Wisconsin Children’s Author by the Wisconsin Library Association.
You may follow Bausum on Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/AnnBausum) and Twitter (@AnnBausum) or visit her online at www.AnnBausum.com
Her newest title, The March Against Fear (National Geographic: 2017), is her third work to examine the civil rights movement in the American South. In the case of these and other books, Bausum strives to bring the nation’s social justice history to life in ways that empower and inspire readers young and old alike. Her previous title, Stonewall (Viking: 2015), is among the first nonfiction books to introduce teens to gay rights history. Previous works have explored voting rights, immigration, and free speech, among other topics.
The almost-forgotten story of Stubby lured Bausum away from social justice history temporarily. She wrote twin titles about the stray dog smuggled to Europe during World War I who returned to a hero’s welcome. Both books were published in 2014 by National Geographic: Sergeant Stubby (for adult readers) and Stubby the War Dog (for children).
In the spring of 2017, the Children’s Book Guild of Washington, D.C., will honor the body of Bausum’s work by presenting her with its venerable Nonfiction Award. This award recognizes the consistent commendation earned by her individual titles through the years. Bausum’s books have appeared consistently on lists of recommended and notable titles and have earned numerous literary awards including a Sibert Honor Award, the Jane Addams Children’s Book Award, the Carter G. Woodson Award (on two occasions), and the SCBWI Golden Kite Award. In 2015, she was named the year’s Notable Wisconsin Children’s Author by the Wisconsin Library Association.
You may follow Bausum on Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/AnnBausum) and Twitter (@AnnBausum) or visit her online at www.AnnBausum.com
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 42 reviews
July 22, 2019
Richie’s Picks: VIRAL: THE FIGHT AGAINST AIDS IN AMERICA by Ann Bausum, Viking, June 2019, 176p., ISBN: 978-0-425-28729-0
“‘You know Toad,’ said Frog, with his mouth full, ‘I think we should stop eating. We will soon be sick.’
‘You are right,’ said Toad. ‘Let us eat one last cookie.’
Frog and Toad ate one last cookie. There were many cookies left in the bowl.
‘Frog,’ said Toad, ‘let us eat one very last cookie, and then we will stop.’
Frog and Toad ate one very last cookie.
‘We must stop eating!’ cried Toad as he ate another.”
--From FROG AND TOAD TOGETHER by Arnold Lobel, who died of AIDS at age 54
“Ooh love ooh loverboy
What’re you doin’ tonight, hey boy
Set my alarm, turn on my charm
That’s because I’m a good old-fashioned lover boy”
-- Freddy Mercury, who died from AIDS at age 45
“‘We didn’t know we were dancing on the edge of our graves,’ New York transplant Rodger McFarlane later observed. ‘It was the headiest experience I’ve ever had in my life. And it is unrivaled still.’ Life before Stonewall had been filled with oppression, and life after Stonewall, for many gay men, overflowed with liberation. But that was before what came next.
And what came next was AIDS.”
VIRAL: THE FIGHT AGAINST AIDS IN AMERICA is a powerful, engaging read for young people about a tragic time in America that began nearly forty years ago. For those of us who lost friends, relatives, colleagues, and/or lovers, it’s hard to believe that it’s already that long ago. My more fortunate gay male friends have been spending the balance of their lives trying to stay healthy and taking mountains of expensive prescription drugs to keep their HIV infections in check. But the majority of the gay male friends I once had, during my early years in the San Francisco Bay area, died more than thirty years ago, and are now memories of a bygone era. It’s so long ago, before the digital age, that I can’t find photos or obits for people who were once part of my circle of friends.
“Who had it? Who might? Who knew someone that had been infected? What the hell could be causing it? What in heaven could be done to stop it?”
The most moving aspect of VIRAL is the presentation of bits of life stories of those who succumbed to AIDS. These stories are told in the words of the victims themselves; by their friends and lovers; and through the individual squares of the AIDS memorial quilt. By the luck of the draw, these stories could have readily been about any of us who might have happened to come of age as gay men or be hemophiliacs in those years.
“Among the thousands of panels was a new one that read: ‘My name is Duane Kearns Puryear. I was born on December 20, 1964. I was diagnosed with AIDS on September 7, 1987 at 4:45 PM. I was 22 years old. Sometimes, it makes me very sad. I made this panel myself. If you are reading it, I am dead.”
As author Ann Bausum explains, scientists, physicians, gay activists, and support groups like ACT UP struggled mightily through the 1980s and into the 1990s to understand the spread of AIDS, to slow down its deadly toll, and to pressure the US government to fund research that could stop the pandemic.
“There was no shortage of theories. Maybe there’d been a bad batch of poppers, and gay men had become ill from using the illegal inhalant. Maybe a microorganism was lurking in the plumbing of the bathhouses. Maybe gay men had worn out their immune systems. Maybe they had developed resistance to antibiotics by overusing them. Maybe excessive promiscuity itself had somehow triggered the outbreak.”
We came to understand that the circle of infection included gay men, heroin users, hemophiliacs, and then-recent Hatian immigrants. VIRUS reveals how too many of those holding political power just weren’t bothered by the mounting death toll. By the end of the book, it’s easy to conclude that if the circle of infection had instead focused primarily on straight old white men, the crisis would have been addressed many times more rapidly and effectively.
By 1984, HIV had been identified as the pathogen and early tests were being developed to detect the virus in people. But it wasn’t until after President Ronald Reagan’s friend Rock Hudson had developed AIDS that the Reagan administration even mentioned AIDS or proposed doing something about the catastrophe.
“Men still sought refuge on Fire Island, but the specter of death followed them there, too. ‘Suddenly it was common to see former stars of the beach bumping down the boardwalks in wheelchairs or tapping along with the aid of white canes,’ Steve Bolerjack wrote years later about his experience of living in New York during the AIDS crisis.”
Given the fact that well over half a million Americans have died of AIDS (over 35 million worldwide), this distinguished book for young people about the AIDS crisis is way overdue. Ann Bausum has done an extraordinary job of researching and writing about the first decades of the pandemic, and I trust that the American Library Association’s Robert F. Sibert Informational Book Award committee will give it the attention that it deserves.
I am not surprised that some professional journals are playing it safe by recommending VIRAL for grades 9 and up. But having spent years in middle school classrooms, I believe that, as with SPEAK, it will be a great public service to also make VIRAL available to middle schoolers before they get to high school.
Richie Partington, MLIS
Richie's Picks http://richiespicks.pbworks.com
https://www.facebook.com/richiespicks/
richiepartington@gmail.com
“‘You know Toad,’ said Frog, with his mouth full, ‘I think we should stop eating. We will soon be sick.’
‘You are right,’ said Toad. ‘Let us eat one last cookie.’
Frog and Toad ate one last cookie. There were many cookies left in the bowl.
‘Frog,’ said Toad, ‘let us eat one very last cookie, and then we will stop.’
Frog and Toad ate one very last cookie.
‘We must stop eating!’ cried Toad as he ate another.”
--From FROG AND TOAD TOGETHER by Arnold Lobel, who died of AIDS at age 54
“Ooh love ooh loverboy
What’re you doin’ tonight, hey boy
Set my alarm, turn on my charm
That’s because I’m a good old-fashioned lover boy”
-- Freddy Mercury, who died from AIDS at age 45
“‘We didn’t know we were dancing on the edge of our graves,’ New York transplant Rodger McFarlane later observed. ‘It was the headiest experience I’ve ever had in my life. And it is unrivaled still.’ Life before Stonewall had been filled with oppression, and life after Stonewall, for many gay men, overflowed with liberation. But that was before what came next.
And what came next was AIDS.”
VIRAL: THE FIGHT AGAINST AIDS IN AMERICA is a powerful, engaging read for young people about a tragic time in America that began nearly forty years ago. For those of us who lost friends, relatives, colleagues, and/or lovers, it’s hard to believe that it’s already that long ago. My more fortunate gay male friends have been spending the balance of their lives trying to stay healthy and taking mountains of expensive prescription drugs to keep their HIV infections in check. But the majority of the gay male friends I once had, during my early years in the San Francisco Bay area, died more than thirty years ago, and are now memories of a bygone era. It’s so long ago, before the digital age, that I can’t find photos or obits for people who were once part of my circle of friends.
“Who had it? Who might? Who knew someone that had been infected? What the hell could be causing it? What in heaven could be done to stop it?”
The most moving aspect of VIRAL is the presentation of bits of life stories of those who succumbed to AIDS. These stories are told in the words of the victims themselves; by their friends and lovers; and through the individual squares of the AIDS memorial quilt. By the luck of the draw, these stories could have readily been about any of us who might have happened to come of age as gay men or be hemophiliacs in those years.
“Among the thousands of panels was a new one that read: ‘My name is Duane Kearns Puryear. I was born on December 20, 1964. I was diagnosed with AIDS on September 7, 1987 at 4:45 PM. I was 22 years old. Sometimes, it makes me very sad. I made this panel myself. If you are reading it, I am dead.”
As author Ann Bausum explains, scientists, physicians, gay activists, and support groups like ACT UP struggled mightily through the 1980s and into the 1990s to understand the spread of AIDS, to slow down its deadly toll, and to pressure the US government to fund research that could stop the pandemic.
“There was no shortage of theories. Maybe there’d been a bad batch of poppers, and gay men had become ill from using the illegal inhalant. Maybe a microorganism was lurking in the plumbing of the bathhouses. Maybe gay men had worn out their immune systems. Maybe they had developed resistance to antibiotics by overusing them. Maybe excessive promiscuity itself had somehow triggered the outbreak.”
We came to understand that the circle of infection included gay men, heroin users, hemophiliacs, and then-recent Hatian immigrants. VIRUS reveals how too many of those holding political power just weren’t bothered by the mounting death toll. By the end of the book, it’s easy to conclude that if the circle of infection had instead focused primarily on straight old white men, the crisis would have been addressed many times more rapidly and effectively.
By 1984, HIV had been identified as the pathogen and early tests were being developed to detect the virus in people. But it wasn’t until after President Ronald Reagan’s friend Rock Hudson had developed AIDS that the Reagan administration even mentioned AIDS or proposed doing something about the catastrophe.
“Men still sought refuge on Fire Island, but the specter of death followed them there, too. ‘Suddenly it was common to see former stars of the beach bumping down the boardwalks in wheelchairs or tapping along with the aid of white canes,’ Steve Bolerjack wrote years later about his experience of living in New York during the AIDS crisis.”
Given the fact that well over half a million Americans have died of AIDS (over 35 million worldwide), this distinguished book for young people about the AIDS crisis is way overdue. Ann Bausum has done an extraordinary job of researching and writing about the first decades of the pandemic, and I trust that the American Library Association’s Robert F. Sibert Informational Book Award committee will give it the attention that it deserves.
I am not surprised that some professional journals are playing it safe by recommending VIRAL for grades 9 and up. But having spent years in middle school classrooms, I believe that, as with SPEAK, it will be a great public service to also make VIRAL available to middle schoolers before they get to high school.
Richie Partington, MLIS
Richie's Picks http://richiespicks.pbworks.com
https://www.facebook.com/richiespicks/
richiepartington@gmail.com
July 15, 2019
Pair with the author’s Stonewall.
Author note at end of audio
Author note at end of audio
October 21, 2020
Brutally honest look at the HIV/AIDS epidemic. I felt that Bausum laid out the facts concisely and managed to portray the correct amount of horror/emotion/frustration at the government. I thought it was absolutely amazing.
October 28, 2021
I have seen some comparisons to the COVID response to the AIDS response. I was just a child when AIDS began to become a top story. I got the meet Jeannie White after her son Ryan died. It was good to get the perspectives, attitudes, and timeline at the time. I remember the AIDS quilt which was discussed. Now we have medications that help to where HIV is no longer detectable with someone that has been diagnosed. It is very eye opening what the LGBTQ community has struggled through with AIDS for the past 30+ years.
How did I find this book? It was a selection for LGBT History Month through CloudLibrary. I am an Ally and want to be better informed on the challenges that have been faced in the past and in the present.
How did I find this book? It was a selection for LGBT History Month through CloudLibrary. I am an Ally and want to be better informed on the challenges that have been faced in the past and in the present.
April 5, 2021
It's so easy to forget how things used to be. This title covers the HIV/AIDS epidemic in the early years.
July 1, 2019
Wholly informative and as Bausum explains, it's not meant to be a comprehensive look at the AIDS epidemic, rather the tumultuous first twenty-ish years. But truly it is comprehensive in that it does discuss all of the decades including the present but it's not the focal point as much as the early days.
Name dropping the activists and work of certain individuals put a face on the fight and I was completely shocked (but remember brief moments of it) in which presidents and politicians ignored what was happening. How pop culture reacted. What the men on both coasts had to do in their own communities but also at the steps of state and federal government to do something, anything to get people to pay attention and work toward finding answers and a way to stop its spread.
The layout of the book is phenomenal with the inclusion of photos, especially the tender ones, that put a human touch on the story-- we need to remember the people. How the idea of the AIDS quilt came to be. What celebrities and the average little kid did for the notoriety of AIDS.
This is the kind of nonfiction that does wonders on the shelf to be approachable, informative, and captures a period of history with its sentiment and historical context.
Name dropping the activists and work of certain individuals put a face on the fight and I was completely shocked (but remember brief moments of it) in which presidents and politicians ignored what was happening. How pop culture reacted. What the men on both coasts had to do in their own communities but also at the steps of state and federal government to do something, anything to get people to pay attention and work toward finding answers and a way to stop its spread.
The layout of the book is phenomenal with the inclusion of photos, especially the tender ones, that put a human touch on the story-- we need to remember the people. How the idea of the AIDS quilt came to be. What celebrities and the average little kid did for the notoriety of AIDS.
This is the kind of nonfiction that does wonders on the shelf to be approachable, informative, and captures a period of history with its sentiment and historical context.
June 15, 2019
Ann ends the book saying she wanted to bring to life the activists who died from the virus (and a complete failure of our political and health systems) and she did exactly that.
Read
October 20, 2019A fascinating, horrifying, and sober look at the AIDS crisis, particularly focusing on the first twenty years, politicians' lack of action, and the devastating toll that AIDS took on our country. Pair this with LIKE A LOVE STORY by Abdi Nazemian for a glimpse into just why AIDS made it so scary to be gay in the 80s and 90s.
June 1, 2020
This book describes the AIDS crisis, focusing on its effect in the United States. It is clearly well researched, with plenty of quotes from a wide variety of sources, including interviews, documentaries, speeches, other texts, TV footage, pamphlets, and more. Even though the book frequently quotes activists and government officials, the audiobook format doesn't make it confusing when switching between the text and the quotes, which I appreciated. This book is also well-organized; chapters are ordered chronologically by time period. The author doesn't shy away from pointing out the federal government's inaction at the beginning of the pandemic, but she also writes empathetically about the victims and survivors of the pandemic. I felt that overall, this book is very informative, and it does a good job of addressing many aspects of the crisis, including the different activist movements and organizations, the effect on marginalized communities, the origins of HIV, etc. It also provides not only a detailed summary of the past but also a look at the present and future. The book even clearly explains drugs developed to treat HIV, such as protease inhibitors, in a really simple manner that people with no professional scientific background, like me, can understand. As someone who, unfortunately, did not know a lot about the AIDS pandemic before, I came away from reading this book with much more sympathy and knowledge. It was also interesting to listen to this book and be able to make connections to the current coronavirus pandemic. I would recommend it to anyone who wants to know more about the AIDS crisis or who feels like they don't know enough about the crisis.
February 17, 2022
I really loved this book! It was so informative and I honestly believe that everyone should listen to this book. I never truly understood the depths of the AIDS crisis, but this book helped to open my eyes and allowed me to see what was going on in the United States during the 70s. The author was able to cover so many different topics without a straying away from the point of the book ( AIDS). They coved racism, wealth disparities, and so many other things. I absolutely loved how the book had specific stories sprinkled in.
The only reason I give it four stars instead of five is that I wish we saw more stories and followed specific people throughout the book. I also felt that it was kind of redundant when discussing the funerals, protests, and political cries for help. I felt as if the readers understood those things and didn’t need it to be discussed in great length multiple times.
All in all I really enjoyed this book and it is a great academic read!
The only reason I give it four stars instead of five is that I wish we saw more stories and followed specific people throughout the book. I also felt that it was kind of redundant when discussing the funerals, protests, and political cries for help. I felt as if the readers understood those things and didn’t need it to be discussed in great length multiple times.
All in all I really enjoyed this book and it is a great academic read!
August 31, 2019
This history of how HIV was dealt with in the U.S. is fascinating and a great book for high schoolers who need to read about a pandemic. Although it has just a few b&w photos, they help give a sense to who was on the forefront advocating for research and funding. The tone of the narrative is pointed - clear in who to blame for inaction by the government. Sometimes these books for teens are hesitant to point fingers, but Bausum is not and backs up her contentions with facts. Another plus is that activists in both New York and San Francisco are featured (in many other books SF is mentioned but not given an equal voice). Great for high school and public libraries service older teens; Bausum continues to write forcefully on important topics for this age group.
January 15, 2021
A school essential: Viral by Ann Bausum.
Small but mighty. Such important information. Will it be allowed into the hands of its intended teen audience? The Ontario government and its dated school curriculum reinstatement calls this into question. Really? In 2021 we are still not letting Canadian teachers teach kids about sexual health basics? Tragic. I read 'And The Band Played On' a much older, bigger book about Aids before 1987. Around the same time as I read this smaller teen focused book. This small book, Viral, corrects such information as the Canadian patient zero. But the big take away for me was a simple graph about yearly deaths, devastating in its, somehow, still not widely known numbers of human lives lost.
Small but mighty. Such important information. Will it be allowed into the hands of its intended teen audience? The Ontario government and its dated school curriculum reinstatement calls this into question. Really? In 2021 we are still not letting Canadian teachers teach kids about sexual health basics? Tragic. I read 'And The Band Played On' a much older, bigger book about Aids before 1987. Around the same time as I read this smaller teen focused book. This small book, Viral, corrects such information as the Canadian patient zero. But the big take away for me was a simple graph about yearly deaths, devastating in its, somehow, still not widely known numbers of human lives lost.
September 11, 2020
A narrative history of the AIDS epidemic from its beginnings through to modern day, the book, in clear simple language follows the stories of the people effected and the organizations they created to push back against an uncaring government apparatus that hampered the response to care for and address the crisis. This book is a great primer for anyone looking to better understand the crisis and to understand some of the roots of the modern LGBT rights movement.
I don’t know how present the AIDS crisis in young people’s minds today, but it wouldn’t surprise me if there’s some heightened interest in reading about epidemics in general given current events.
I don’t know how present the AIDS crisis in young people’s minds today, but it wouldn’t surprise me if there’s some heightened interest in reading about epidemics in general given current events.
September 9, 2021
Great book for teens, and everyone, to learn about the AIDS crisis. I learned about so many of the individual HIV/AIDS activists and Ann Bausum's writing made you truly care about each one.
Needless to say I teared up a multiple points in this book. Either from sadness from how horribly mishandled the AIDS epidemic was and the thousands who suffered from it, or from pride at reading about all the people who came together to get justice and treatment even if they wouldn't be alive to see it.
This book should definitely be on the reading list in schools across the country.
Needless to say I teared up a multiple points in this book. Either from sadness from how horribly mishandled the AIDS epidemic was and the thousands who suffered from it, or from pride at reading about all the people who came together to get justice and treatment even if they wouldn't be alive to see it.
This book should definitely be on the reading list in schools across the country.
August 6, 2019
I was pretty young during the worst of the AIDS crisis, but I have vivid memories of the middle school counselor coming to my fifth-through-eighth grade classrooms to teach what must have been only a couple hours of AIDS education every year, and much of it has now been disproved. This book was so informative and thought-provoking and made me so sad and angry. If this isn't on your radar, it should be.
February 16, 2020
This is a down and dirty look at the HIV/AIDS epidemic that swept through the USA in the 80s. It’s brutally honest and uncomfortable to read. Which means EVERYONE needs to read this so they are smarter voters and don’t continue to elect small minded conservatives into political offices. This should never happen again, it never should have gotten as bad as it did in the first place. Reagan and Bush (and their administrations) definitely have blood on their hands.
May 20, 2023
An amazing review of the aids pandemic, filled with information that I was not aware of and loved learning about. I feel it is important to understand this history and not just sweep it away. It was more than a pandemic, it brought to the forefront the oppression of LBGTQ people and the current political situation throughout the entire ordeal. Lest we forget.......an excellent read and very clearly written.
September 8, 2025
Text-heavy & image-light, this is definitely a book for older teens & YA. It was a fascinating look at the epidemiology of the virus, the toll on individuals & communities, the growth of advocacy efforts, & the current changes in health-care & insurance that have arrived due to the epidemic. It was interesting to read a history of events I remember & see them put into historical context. It was very good & very thought-provoking.
October 3, 2019
teen nonfiction (if a middlegrader has questions, this would suit them as well)
a condensed history of AIDS awareness and the protests by the LGBTQ+ community that led to eventual government support. It does a good job of putting names (so many!) and faces to the people with AIDS who have died or who have fought for the rights of the afflicted.
a condensed history of AIDS awareness and the protests by the LGBTQ+ community that led to eventual government support. It does a good job of putting names (so many!) and faces to the people with AIDS who have died or who have fought for the rights of the afflicted.
November 18, 2019
Excellent and appropriately distressing.
Big pluses for tackling a topic new generations need to know about. I appreciated the frank discussion of the sexual abandon of the 70’s and early 80’s - the tragic presumption that if pregnancy were not an issue all restraint could be cast off and that promiscuity equaled freedom and how that mind set helped fuel the epidemic.
Big pluses for tackling a topic new generations need to know about. I appreciated the frank discussion of the sexual abandon of the 70’s and early 80’s - the tragic presumption that if pregnancy were not an issue all restraint could be cast off and that promiscuity equaled freedom and how that mind set helped fuel the epidemic.
January 30, 2020
Interesting nonfiction that fits in the very unpublished for group of like 9th and 10th grade. This book recounts the really bad years of the AIDS pandemic in the United States and does a very good job of balancing information, stories, the super sad subject without being way too sad.
Highly recommend for high school nonfiction collections.
Highly recommend for high school nonfiction collections.
July 25, 2019
Interesting book about the rise of AIDS and how activism and treatment evolved. I had read "And the Band Played On" years ago, and found out in this book that "Patient 0" is not how AIDS spread around the world (which is what they thought when "And the Band Played On" was published).
Read
November 6, 2019Is it weird to say a book about AIDS was riveting? Bausum constructs her narrative around the activists who fought for patients' care while the government did nothing. It resonates strongly with other obvious crises we're facing where the people in power refuse to help.
April 6, 2020
A good book that illustrates the harrowing years in the US (not so long ago) during the AIDS crisis. It’s an interesting read because there are some parallels to the current COVID-19/novel coronavirus pandemic of 2020.
April 28, 2023
I thought I knew a decent amount about the AIDS crisis but this book helped me learn so much more. I definitely recommend this if you are in the LGBTQIA+ community so you can learn more about what those who came before us went through.
June 14, 2023
Good overview of the topics for young teens and older. A kind of digest of more in-depth sources, addresses the key points with a good mix of objectivity and emotion. No mention of specific sex acts, so I would feel comfortable giving it to a young reader with an interest in the topic.
June 17, 2023
Well written with compassion telling the story of the horrific virus that killed without compassion.
This epidemic occurred in my early thirties yet it has always felt distant to me. I am glad to have read this young adult book and understand more readily the depth and effect it wrote on so many.
This epidemic occurred in my early thirties yet it has always felt distant to me. I am glad to have read this young adult book and understand more readily the depth and effect it wrote on so many.
May 8, 2024
A heavy book but I’m thankful I read it. I had no idea about some of the things that happened during the crisis or quite how much work activists needed to do for the US government to care that people were dying.
Read
November 30, 2025(Actual rating: 3.5 stars)
While I appreciated this read and what I learned form it, I did not find the writing engaging. Yes, this book is targeted at a YA audience but even considering that, the narrative read more simplistic than I expected. This was a decent read but not much more than that.
While I appreciated this read and what I learned form it, I did not find the writing engaging. Yes, this book is targeted at a YA audience but even considering that, the narrative read more simplistic than I expected. This was a decent read but not much more than that.
December 6, 2025
i watched a documentary last year for a class about how atrocious the response to aids was and the grave consequences for marginalized populations. i've wanted to learn more since and this was so informative with a mix of facts and heartbreaking narratives.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 42 reviews