Chasing Orion

by Kathryn Lasky

When a beautiful teen with polio enters their lives, a girl and her older brother find themselves drawn into a web of lies in this compelling novel by a best-selling author.

Eleven-year-old Georgie loves science-fiction movies, but she won’t be going to the theater anytime soon. It’s a hot Indiana summer in 1952, and public places from pools to camps are closing to slow the spread of polio. Despite all the headlines, Georgie never thought she’d come as close to the fearful disease as she does when she spies a silver glint in her neighbor’s yard. There she discovers a monstrous, hissing machine, and inside is Phyllis, a girl encased in an iron lung. "I have eighty-seven cubic centimeters of air, but you have the world," Phyllis tells her. Phyllis’s ability to breathe may be limited, but her strength to manipulate is boundless. As Georgie struggles to comprehend this once-gorgeous teenager’s life in a "coffin with legs," Phyllis slowly weaves a web of lies that snare all those around her, including Georgie’s quickly smitten brother. Can Georgie untangle the truth before Phyllis’s deception achieves its inevitable end?

Genres: Historical Fiction, Middle Grade, Young Adult, Childrens, Fiction, Realistic Fiction, Teen

368 pages, Hardcover

First published September 11, 2007

About the author

Kathryn Lasky, also known as Kathryn Lasky Knight and E. L. Swann, is an award-winning American author of over one hundred books for children and adults. Best known for the Guardians of Ga’Hoole series, her work has been translated into 19 languages and includes historical fiction, fantasy, and nonfiction.

Reviews

[Becky · Rating 2 out of 5]

First sentence: Silver glinting behind leafy trees--that is the first thing I noticed as I stood in the backyard of our new house that summer day.

Premise/plot: Chasing Orion is a coming of age story set in 1952/1953. Our heroine, Georgie, loves building small world dioramas. Her latest will tell the myth of Orion. A previous diorama was inspired by Ray Bradbury's Martian Chronicles. (Bradbury's short story collection was released in 1950). But when she's not hard at work building and creating, she spends a lot of time cooped up because her parents--and rightly so--are concerned about the polio epidemic. There is no vaccine, and polio can be quite dangerous and deadly. Something Georgie realizes even more once she meets her neighbor, Phyllis, who is living--or should that be "living" in an iron lung next door. Georgie certainly doesn't want to end up in an iron lung! But she does miss swimming and going to the movies.

As Georgie becomes closer to Phyllis--so does her brother, Emmett. But is this a good thing or a bad thing? What does Phyllis want from her new friends?


My thoughts: I really did not like this one. It's a personal thing, I think. It was an uncomfortable read that I think rightly reflects the uncomfortable-ness of the times. One of the big questions asked throughout the book is this: Is Phyllis better off "living" in an iron lung? Or would it have been better for her parents to let her die? Are polio victims better off dead than living if they have to live in an iron lung? Or perhaps a rocking bed? At what point does life not become worth living anymore? Most coming-of-age novels aren't really exploring the idea of euthanasia or mercy killing. So can you see why it was a bit uncomfortable? I'm not saying the question isn't a valid one--I'm just not sure it's one I would have EVER wanted to read about in middle school.

Another question it seemed to come back to again and again was belief in God. Georgie decides at one point that if God actually existed there wouldn't be polio. Phyllis would not be stuck in an iron lung if God was real. Deep stuff--I'm not saying it's not valid for Georgie to question what she's been taught as she comes face to face with suffering. But. Again it made for an uncomfortable read.

[Josiah · Rating 3 out of 5]

Chasing Orion is a wholly different sort of fictional perspective on the time of the major U.S. polio outbreak in the early 1950s. Before Jonas Salk developed his polio vaccine in 1955, the epidemic of this fearsome and frightening disease ravaged the middle of our country for a span of a few years, littering cities big and small with dead and disfigured citizens as plentifully as discarded candy wrappers, and understandably causing much fear and some degree of panic in people who were afraid that they, or their families, might be next. Author Kathryn Lasky doesn't leave the task of imagining polio's dangers up to our imagination; there are several stories told in Chasing Orion like the one about a family with four kids, all healthy, who lost all four children to death by polio in a period of twenty-four hours. Twenty-four hours. I can't even begin to get a mental grip on what it would be like to be the parent of a normal, bustling family of energetic kids one day, with nothing going too badly, and then the next day have only the morbid silence of death surrounding you, your dreams for those four kids you loved wiped away forever in hardly more than the blink of an eye. The message that these side stories in the book send is that polio is not something to be played around with, and there was reason for the seemingly heavy-handed methods of caution utilized by the parental characters in this book.

It's summer of 1952 in Indiana, and eleven-year-old Georgie has sort of a duel fear and fascination with the polio epidemic sweeping the nation. She resents the severe restrictions that her parents have put in place as guards against her or her older brother, Emmett, possibly contracting the deadly disease. These prohibitions mean no going to movie theaters, no swimming in public pools... basically, any activity that requires being in close quarters with large groups of people for any length of time is no longer a permissible one. Polio is most often passed interpersonally by lack of simple cleanliness measures, and such innocuous faux pas as not washing one's hands after using the bathroom or not being careful while sneezing can spread the sickness. Georgie knows all about how bad it's getting out there; the fascination part of her reaction to the polio outbreak is that she has taken to memorizing lists of all the new entertainment venues and recreation centers that are closing down around the area each week, and every day she scans the newspaper lists of new polio victims and notes the towns in which they live. Georgie is a smart girl overall, though, so it's not all that alarming for her to take an interest in a current event that affects her life as does the polio issue. Georgie's first academic love is the splendrous study of the cosmos, though, and she makes time frequently to gaze at the nighttime skies with her brother Emmett, trying to see if they can unlock any of the secrets of the universe with their own observation skills.

In addition to the discomfort of the polio situation, Georgie's life has become harder ever since her family moved across town after the end of the previous school year. Their new house is only two miles away from their former one, but now that she no longer lives in her old neighborhood with all of her friends, it's as if everything has changed vitally. Her old friends are all in the loop about what's going on around their neighborhood, but Georgie really doesn't know anything new about that. She quickly sees the writing on the wall that the shelf life of her former relationships is going to be a really short one, so now she is left in a new neighborhood, with no friends, and in the fall she will be starting at a new school. Things can't get much worse.

How could Georgie ever have guessed that living in the house next door to her would be an actual girl who has been desiccated by polio? Phyllis, a high-school girl of about the same age as Emmett, has been ravaged by the ferocious disease. Her motor muscles below her neck have almost all been destroyed by the infection that swept through her body more than a year ago, and now she is confined to an iron lung at all times. Without the machine, she wouldn't even be able to breathe, since the muscles that control her respiration have been damaged beyond repair. Phyllis's father is a respected doctor who has invented some new gadgets to try to help her be able to live a decent life, including an intricate setup of mirrors that give her the ability to look basically anywhere that a fully ambulatory person would be able look, but her quality of life is low. It doesn't take long before Georgie picks up on the truth that Phyllis's father and mother may be excited about their daughter's future and unwilling to admit to themselves how trapped she is in her mangled body, but Phyllis herself has resigned to the fact that there's no real happiness in her future. She's just a girl serving a life sentence incarcerated in a machine, with no way out of the mess her existence has become.

Phyllis's situation will challenge Georgie and Emmett, each in different ways, as they try to earn some form of understanding of what the ordeal that is Phyllis's life must be like for her. Phyllis has a charismatic and intriguing personality, and is well able to interact with people in ways that leave them feeling different and better for the experience, but it's the one big request she's building up to that will test the limits of Georgie and Emmett's relationship as brother and sister, and force them to confront their deepest ethical beliefs about life, and how far one should go to help a friend in distress.

I think that Kathryn Lasky really did a nice job with this book. To me, the story seems exceptionally original and unexpected, a great example of historical fiction with a few alternative angles that we rarely see from novels for younger readers. As in other "star" books such as Love, Stargirl by Jerry Spinelli, The Same Stuff as Stars by Katherine Paterson and Every Soul a Star by Wendy Mass, Chasing Orion does a truly beautiful job of juxtaposing the vastness and eternally mysterious nature of the universe beyond our earth with the complicated struggles that we sometimes face here on our planet, the majestic cosmos serving as a constant reminder of how small what we may be going through is in comparison to the endless enigmas of space, but also how we know deep inside, somehow, that what we do matters. The heavens glow onward with a beauty that none of us can comprehend, but the wonder of our own lives is not to be missed, not for a single moment.

Kathryn Lasky is a very solid, consistent novelist whose work I look forward to reading again in the future. Chasing Orion certainly comes with my earnest recommendation.

[Margo Tanenbaum · Rating 5 out of 5]

Kathryn Lasky's newest novel is set in Indiana during a polio epidemic in the summer of 1952. The story is narrated by 11-year-old Georgie, who has just moved cross-town to a new neighborhood, where she knows no one. Georgie is bored out of her mind, since she's not allowed to swim in public pools, go to camp or to the movies because of the all-pervasive fear of contracting polio. Georgie has a strange obsession with the disease, tracking the number of new cases daily in the newspaper and memorizing lists of polio symptoms, just in case.

It's a strange quirk of fate that right next door to Georgie and her family lives Phyllis, a beautiful, flirtatious teen-aged girl who seems right out of the Archie comics Georgie loves to read--except that she's a polio victim who is trapped in an iron lung, with a useless body that is withering away. Completing the triangle of main characters is Georgie's brother, Emmett, a socially awkward high school basketball player who's an expert amateur astronomer.

As Georgie and her brother get to know Phyllis, Emmett falls in love with her, spending hours with Phyllis looking through his telescopes at the stars. Phyllis makes Georgie feel very grown up by engaging in "girl talk" with her and even gives her some real lipstick. Georgie, whose hobby is building miniature worlds, makes for Phyllis an elaborately detailed miniature diorama featuring the myth of Orion. But Georgie becomes increasingly uneasy with Phyllis; she has an uncomfortable feeling that there is more to this beautiful yet pathetic neighbor than meets the eye. Georgie even starts to have nightmares that she and her brother are ensnared in some kind of evil web, spinning out of control, and begins to grow fearful of Phyllis. Without giving away the ending, let me just say that the resolution of this tense situation brought tears to my eyes.

I highly recommend this novel for young people (boys or girls) ten and up. In telling the story of Phyllis, Georgie, and Emmett, Lasky touches on many deeper themes--what does it really mean to live? Why do bad things happen to good people? The book is also likely to spark conversation about polio and other highly contagious diseases--those that are still a threat, and those that have been eradicated. Many of the young people reading this book may have grandparents who recall vividly the terror that polio struck into their families when they were young, and therefore this could be an especially interesting book to read for book reports or other school assignments. Home schooling parents also might be especially interested since the book could easily serve as a gateway for an interdisciplinary lesson combining astronomy, biology, history, and literature.

[Richelle · Rating 5 out of 5]

This YA book had many different interwoven layers. The main story was set in the 50's during the time before the polio vaccine. Pools and movie theaters were closing to stop the disease from spreading. Georgie's teenage next-door-neighbor fell victim to this terrible disease is no longer able to breathe on her own. Actually meeting a polio surviver who lives in an iron lung is fascinating to Georgie who is a little bit obsessed with reading the daily stats on polio cases in the newspaper every day. The author did an excellent job of weaving together poetry, astronomy, medicine and mythology in interesting ways throughout the story.

[Hilary · Rating 4 out of 5]

Author Kathryn Lasky was prompted to write Chasing Orion, by her own childhood experiences growing up in the 1950s. As a child Lasky read newspaper stories about polio cases, then checked herself obsessively for symptoms, and then – due to the hot Indiana summers – begged to go swimming, since “it was so hard to imagine that I might actually die from it.”

In Chasing Orion, 11-year-old Georgie becomes obsessed with the 1952 polio epidemic spreading rapidly across her home state of Indiana as the result of a school report she wrote on the topic. She keeps a scrapbook of polio statistics, symptoms, and newspaper articles. Georgie never dreams she will come as close to polio as she does when she meets her new neighbor, Phyllis, who is encased in an iron lung. Phyllis had been a glamorous, popular cheerleader before polio immobilized her in a “coffin with legs.”

“I have eighty-seven cubic centimeters of air, but you have the world,” observes Phyllis. But although Phyllis’ breathing and mobility are limited, her ability to manipulate her family and friends is not. Phyllis deliberately and delicately weaves a web of lies which ensnare Georgie’s brother Emmett, Phyllis’ new sweetheart. While others view Phyllis as a helpless victim to be pitied, only Georgie sees the great danger she poses to Emmett. Georgie struggles to save Emmett from Phyllis’ plot before he is hurt and derails his own promising future.

The characters are compelling. Georgie is a believable 11-year-old. She is not precocious; she is down-to-earth and matter-of-fact. She mopes because her family moved to the other end of town and she feels bored and isolated. She is upset about starting a new school. This is Georgie’s coming-of-age story. Phyllis has a teen’s idyllic life: popularity, looks, talent, a cute boyfriend, and convertible of her own. She leads a charmed life. All of this is stripped from her by a devastating disease and she finds herself grappling with issues adults do not want to face.

However, this is not an easy book to read. The deliberate pace and dense language obscure the plot and may turn casual readers away. In pursuing Georgie’s inner dialogue, readers are taken on interesting, but irrelevant, tangents. When the climax comes, less than ten pages from the end, the denouement happens so quickly that it glosses over Phyllis’ intent to have Emmett assist in euthanizing her. In the end, “natural” causes end Phyllis’ life.

In telling the story of Phyllis, Georgie, and Emmett, Lasky touches on several deeper themes: What constitutes living? Why do bad things happen to good people? Do people have the right to decide when they will die? The book serves as a natural springboard to discussions about polio and other contagious diseases, those that are still a threat, and those – like polio – which have (nearly) been eradicated. Chasing Orion may fill gaps in many library collections, as it is a snapshot in time of a decade and disease that rarely flesh out the pages of history books.

[Kathy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Set in the 1950s during the polio epidemics, this is a many layered story. I am not sure how students today would handle this book. I think it would best be left to girls to find it on their own.

[Ava · Rating 3 out of 5]

Real rating 3.5 I would recommend this book for ages 12+ Georgie is an eleven year old girl who just got new neighbors! And girl about her brother’s age in an IRON LUNG! So basically in her brother’s really into space and they look in his telescope a lot. So she begins working on a project of recreating her favorite stories about constellations into dioramas. Emmet ( her brother ) falls in love with Phyllis and they begin to date. Around the same time the doctors try to wean Phyllis off the iron lung. Emmet is happier than ever and is clearly in love with Phyllis. But she’s ( Phyllis ) is off and Georgie can see it and her it when she catches Phyllis whispering about how sweet death would be, and trying to cover over it saying that she said breath. But Georgie knows otherwise, Phyllis is trying to get her brother to take her out of the iron lung for longer, so she can die. She tells her brother this concerned for him and for Phyllis who’s her friend. Emmet brushes her off saying that Phyllis wouldn’t do that he loves her. Georgie begins working on a display of the story of Orion, her’s and Phyllis’s favorite constellation. As a surprise for her. But she wakes up the night after she finishes. Phyllis died. Not from being out of the iron lung. But naturally in her sleep. Then an epilogue, I forget what happened but basically they all got over it eventually and lived happily ever after. Good story a little mature. Emmet often swears mildly, and you know Phyllis. Good historical fiction about polio though.

[Katie · Rating 3 out of 5]

I haven't read anything by Kathryn Lasky since I weeded Shadows in the Water from my childhood collection, and Chasing Orion was nothing like what I expected. It's a striking picture of how much the specter of polio overshadowed the nation in the 1950s. 11-year old Georgie has such a deep and wandering mind, a deep insight into what the adults refuse to tell her while simultaneously fretting over what she knows are insignificant details, like the clothes she needs to fit in with the popular crowd. The language is haunting, poetic, and almost hallucinatory the way we drift from mundane details about school to the rich story of Georgie's small worlds to how Georgie sees the iron lung with all its mirrors more than she sees Phyllis herself. The book drove me to go back and rewatch Call the Midwife, looking at the differences in how polio is portrayed.

PopSugar Reading Challenge 2018: a book by an author with the same first or last name as you

[Amber · Rating 4 out of 5]

(4.5 stars)
Odd coincidence I started reading this book before the Corona Virus chaos happened...
Polio is very scary to read about...
I liked this book, but it's so depressing. They couldn't really go out to hang with their friends, most summer events and fun activities were cancelled... The book did have some good topics too though. I related to these characters a lot because of their interests in Basketball, Astronomy, and especially about the constellation Orion. It's my favorite.



**Spoilers**


I knew Phyllis was wanting to die, and she really hated her favorite poem. Her parents were just so blinded is was unreal... and very sad. Her poem was like a silent cry for help to her parents...
She felt like a prisoner inside the Iron Lung.
The parents of the science girl were very weird haha... I can't imagine having a family like that, who found no problem in discussing things like body parts at the dinner table. Then again my family are weird too.

[Jeni Enjaian · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have a hard time evaluation how I feel in response to this book. Lasky creates a polio story unlike any other polio story I have read before.
Georgie serves as an excellent narrator. However, the climax comes far too late in the book and the denouement drops the reader off a cliff with only marginal resolution. This fact made me hesitate before giving the book four stars.
Lasky's narrative digs into tough questions and avoids giving pat, easy answers. This, I appreciate. However, Lasky weighs down the narrative with other fascinating details, such as Evelyn and her family's eccentricity. This ends up distracting from the narrative and creates unanswered questions which add to the unresolved feeling of the resolution.
Despite all that, Lasky's narrative grips in real, powerful ways and for that reason, I do recommend this book.

[Emily · Rating 3 out of 5]

It’s about a little girl you moves somewhere new. She likes stars and like them. And the story take place around 1952. And she goes on a ride kinda. I think the author did a good job on writing it. And she did well on the character.

[Stasia · Rating 3 out of 5]

Actually only read halfway, and just not feeling it right now. It's interesting, and a great look into what it's like being a child during an epidemic, but just feels a little too close to home to fully enjoy the story at the moment. Maybe in the future I will pick it up again.

[Lori Johnson · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love books that make you google historical events, places, inventions, etc. This one had me looking at stars, iron lungs, when the polio vaccine was invented. The only thing I was disappointed in was the climax was kind of anticlimactic. I kept thinking......that's it?

[Ginger · Rating 2 out of 5]

Seemed to want to be more dramatic, when it was truly just sad. (The story, not the writing.) Had to stop and think whether the climax was meant to be the climax; it just didn't work.

[Louie · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book! It was really good and I also learned about polio.

[Lisa Castle · Rating 4 out of 5]

A little too prescient for now

[Abigail Brown · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absolutely loved this book! cried for days afterwards!

[Dolly · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book offers an insightful look into life during the polio scare of the early 1950s. The story is almost more of a journal, with the main character sharing all of her conflicting hopes, emotions, and dreams. I liked the sincere voice of a preteen, with the angst of wanting to grow up, fit in, and make friends.

Our oldest has been a big fan of Kathryn Lasky's books; she's read all of the Wolves of the Beyond series and is still working her way through the Guardians of Ga'Hoole series. She was excited to borrow another book by this author, but she really never got into the story.

I really enjoyed reading this book, although I think that Georgie over-dramatized the emotions and the events. I loved that Georgie's friend Evelyn dressed up as an owl for Halloween, so Ms. Lasky got to throw in some information about the Barn Owl (tyto alba) into the story. Certainly a nice nod to her owl-centric series. Overall, it was an engaging story and a momentary glimpse into an earlier time in American history.

interesting quotes:

"Maybe stupid fads, word fads, fashion fads, ruled our lives too much and wound up making us all boring. Not just boring, but like carbon copies or rubber stamps, sort of blurry and not at all distinct." (p. 80)

"This led me to the conclusion that it was much better to have a kindergarten teacher for a mother than a gynecologist." (p. 266)

"Emmett told me once that every single atom in our body was once made in the hot core of a star. In other words, we are made of stardust. He told me that every carbon atom that ever was still is." (p. 356)

[Loulou · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book takes place in the summer of 1952. The main character, Georgie Mason, is an eleven-year-old girl. She is not allowed to swim because her mother fears that she will catch polio, even though she loves to swim. Georgies hobbies are building miniature scenes from her favorite stories and watching the starts at night with her brother Emmet. Georgie just found out that her neighbor, Phyllis Keller, an older teenage girl, has polio. Emmet and Georgie visit Phyllis to keep her company. Sometimes Georgie feels left out when Emmit and Phyllis are together. Usually, people look at Phyllis like she is stuck, not her as a person. One day, Phyllis told Georgie that she feels bad that she can't do anything she used to love to do. Georgie wants to make sure that Phyllis is actually living the most out of her life since she has polio. Throughout the story, Georgie suspects that Phyllis is trying to use Emmet to make him do something horrible. Georgie then figures out that Phyllis wants to die and that she is going to trick Emmit into killing her. Georgie finally tells Emmit the truth about Phyllis' plan and he gets upset so he never visits Phyllis again. Neither Georgie or Emmit visits Phyllis in a while. Their mother tells Georgie and Emmit that Phyllis is refusing to eat. One morning, their mother told them that Phyllis died. Emmit becomes very sad and decides to fight in the Korean war. Emmit returns from the war and becomes an astronomer. Georgie becomes a set designer and still builds small worlds. Some themes are: Sometimes it is better to die than to live a life of pain. Everyone has certain limits, nobody has complete freedom. Lastly, Georgie builds small worlds in a small box and that symbolizes a life of a person like Phyllis trapped in an iron lung.

[Heather D-G · Rating 4 out of 5]

Quick Review: I enjoyed this story about life during the summer of 1952, when the fear of polio had public places (like theaters and swimming pools) closing one after another. Georgia, our 11-year-old narrator, is fed-up. Not only has her family just moved all the way across their Indiana town (meaning she'll have to switch schools and never sees her old friends), but because of polio, all her favorite summer activities have been canceled. She and her teenage brother, Emmett, are stuck at home.
Come to find out though, they have a teenage neighbor who is much more stuck than they are. Phyllis was stricken with polio, and she wasn't one of the lucky ones for whom it was little more than a quickly passing flu-like illness. Phyllis is one of thousands that are left paralyzed, unable to move or even breathe on their own. She's in an iron lung, and her wealthy parents have arranged for her to stay in her home (instead of in one of the numerous polio wards that were cropping up in hospitals all over the country). Georgia (Georgie) and Emmett quickly befriend her, and at first it seems like a dream come true for Georgie. She's always loved the teenage adventures of Archie and Veronica, and now she has a real-life teenage girl to talk to! One who confides in her and seems to like her brother, the basketball and astronomy nerd. It isn't long before Emmett and Phyllis are inseparable. But soon Georgie is uneasy. Is she just jealous? Or is Phyllis not what she seems to be? What does she really want with Emmett?
Fascinating, sad, and well-written; highly recommended (I would say 10+).

[Amanda · Rating 3 out of 5]

The story focused on Phyllis, a teenager confined to an iron lung for the rest of her life because of polio. The story is told through Phyllis' new next door neighbor Georgie. Phyllis has been in the iron lung for so long that attempts to wean her off the machine have failed. Phyllis wants to end her life and only Georgie realizes that she is manipulating Emmett, Georgie's older brother, into helping her.

The book was very interesting. Providing a glimpse of what it was like to be a kid when polio was still a very real threat. Because of Georgie's age, I was surprised that the story dealt with such a heavy issue of euthanasia, but it was still a very good if slightly unsettling read.

[Bvlmc Buchanan Verplanck Elementary School · Rating 3 out of 5]

In the summer of 1952, a polio outbreak shuts down public spaces in a small Indiana town. New to the neighborhood, eleven year old Georgie and her seventeen year old brother Emmett meet their seventeen year old neighbor Phyllis who is encased in an iron lung. Through summer evenings star gazing, both siblings form a relationship with Phyllis. However, Georgie soon becomes uneasy with Phyllis' manipulation of those around her and in particular her hold over Emmett. As Georgie struggles to make sense of the relationships Phyllis cultivates and to navigate a new school as a sixth grader, her unease grows and her desperation to understand Phyllis' intentions mounts.

This book has mature themes related to relationships and matters of life and death.

[Nikki · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really liked this story. Georgie is presented as a very real, honest 12 year-old, with all the associated inner dialogue, emotions, reactions, and dreams. The story moves through ordinary things in her life (new school, making friends, family gatherings, summertime) but in anchored by the Polio epidemic and the teenage girl living in an iron lung at the house next door. There is a lots of discussion about Polio, and just as much about astronomy, so the book feels like it has a lot of content to share as well as a solid plot. Overall, though, despite the well-crafted educational angles of the story, it feels like a very personal tale about Georgie as she matures toward the adult world and leaves childhood behind. Good in so many ways.

[Mary E. · Rating 3 out of 5]

If the first 250 pages had been tightened to 150 pages I might have loved this book. The story of living during the time when uncontrolled Polio destroyed lives, tugged at my heart. Georgie's love and concern for her brother Emmett who thinks he's in love with Phyllis who lives in an Iron Lung are a great plot. But the author spends so much time wallowing in Georgie's thoughts which are not always relevant to the story or accurate for the 1950's, seems to go on forever. Then the climax is told in less than two pages and only eight pages from the end. The poorly written ending does not fix the feeling of being jerked out of the story.

[Susan Dunn · Rating 3 out of 5]

I bought this for J Fiction and one of my coworkers read it and thought it might be better in YA. Need to read it to find out.

Now that I've read it, I kind of agree. My coworker lived during this time of polio paranoia, and that part of the book really could be kind of scary for kids. Georgie's family moves to a new neighborhood, and the next door neighbor - a beautiful high school girl - is in an iron lung due to polio. She seduces Georgie's shy older brother over the course of several months, and Georgie eventually realizes that Phyllis is hoping to persuade Emmett to help her die. Very dark.

[Jennifer · Rating 3 out of 5]

A precocious and lonely 11 year old girl moves in next door to a teenager in an iron lung, victim to the polio outbreak in the 1950's. It's an interesting and emotional story, told by a very emotionally deep 11 year old (kind of surprised the author didn't make her older). It's a well written book and I learned something about what it would be like to have polio, but I didn't like that the tone of the book was so negative. It focused nearly completely on what the girl lost, not on what she had or could still do. Granted, I probably would be pretty negative if I lived in an iron lung, but for a children's book, this had a lot of bitterness.

[Chelinda · Rating 4 out of 5]

Why should we vaccinate our children? Because I don't want to have to avoid movie theatres, public pools, and large crowds (Disneyland!) for fear of my children getting a deadly disease! The days of polio scares are more than 50 years ago and not many people remember them now; even less know the realities of polio and what could happen. I loved this book because it not only gave a glimpse of the scare, it introduced us to a girl who had everything going for her, except a polio vaccine to save her slow demise. She is alive, if you want to call it that, and she is actually wanting someone to help her die. A sad reality of yesteryear that no one talks about anymore but definitely should.

[Beth · Rating 3 out of 5]

In 1952, eleven-year-old Georgie moves to a new house, where her new neighbor, teenager Phyllis, is trapped in an iron lung as a result of polio. Lasky creates a gripping look at the effects of polio on everyday life and the tragedy of its destruction of young lives, presented through Georgie's eyes. Phyllis becomes Georgie's brother's first girlfriend, and the contrast between her beauty and former life and her trapped status is presented clearly. Not suitable for religious readers due to romance.

[Meggen · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was an interesting historical fiction about the time when polio was a real threat to young people around the world. Chasing Orion follows a young lady desperate to be normal and to be involved in group activities in their new town (like swimming) but instead having to be shielded and sheltered for her own health. She and her older brother befriend their neighbor, Phyllis, a 17-year old in an iron lung. Phyllis is very manipulative and soon entraps them in a dangerous scheme. Interesting, yet creepy at times, this book taught me a lot about life during the polio scare.

[Melissa · Rating 2 out of 5]

We liked the setting (Indianapolis) and subject (polio epidemic) but the pacing was slow and the book was long - felt like we were reading it forever! Georgie's fascination with her neighbor Phyllis' condition (in an iron long) is easily relate-able but we had trouble sustaining interest. Georgie reflects and speculates and the plot itself doesn't go far. We liked all the astronomy - this book had so much going for it but it just wasn't a good fit as a read aloud for a young boy (however, he insisted we finish it)