Secret of the Yellow Death: A True Story of Medical Sleuthing

Secret of the Yellow Death: A True Story of Medical Sleuthing

Suzanne Jurmain
$13.99
Publication Date: September 10th, 2013
Publisher:
Clarion Books
ISBN:
9780547746241
Pages:
112
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Description

Red oozes from the patient's gums. He has a rushing headache and the whites of his eyes look like lemons. He will likely die within days.

Here is the true story of how four Americans and one Cuban tracked down a killer, one of the world's most vicious plagues: yellow fever. Set in fever-stricken Cuba, this book allows the reader to feel the heavy air, smell the stench of disease, hears the whine of mosquitoes biting human volunteers during the surreal experiments. Exploring themes of courage, cooperation, and the ethics of human experimentation, this gripping account is ultimately a story of the triumph of science.

About the Author

Suzanne Tripp Jurmain was born into a theatrical family, making her acting debut at age four and appearing in a number of television programs during her childhood and teen years. After earning an honors degree in English at UCLA, she worked at UCLA’s Fowler Museum before becoming a freelance writer. She has published several award-winning books for children on historical subjects, including The Secret of the Yellow Death, and the picture books Worst of Friends: Thomas Jefferson, John Adams and the True Story of an American Feud, George Did It, and Nice Work, Franklin!, all illustrated by Larry Day. Suzanne Jurmain lives with her husband in Los Angeles. Visit her website at www.suzannejurmain.com.
 

Praise for Secret of the Yellow Death: A True Story of Medical Sleuthing

"With plenty of gory details . . .  Even reluctant readers will respond to the gruesome descriptions of the disease and of brave volunteers . . . Quotations from the doctors’ letters and later accounts by other participants gives the story an immediacy heightened by conversational writing full of questions and cliffhangers . . .  powerful exploration of a disease that killed 100,000 U.S. citizens in the 1800s."--Kirkus Reviews —