Category: Juvenile
Grade: 5-9
Author: Kathryn Laskey
Illustrator: N/A
Publisher: Candlewick
Date: 2010
Pages: 362
Summary:
Though Georgie reads polio statistics in the paper daily and sees victims on TV, she never expected to find a polio victim in the backyard next door. Teenaged Phyllis is in an iron lung and seems hungry for company – both Georgie’s and her good-looking elder brother Emmett’s. As Georgie gets to know Phyllis better, she realizes that much of her happy persona is, in fact, a lie, and all Phyllis really wishes for is death – freedom from her iron prison. And Emmett, thinking he is helping her recuperate, may be just the person to help Phyllis accomplish her goal. Review:
Though length and content may not be appropriate for a younger reader, this story was well told and quite fascinating with a unique subject matter. Lasky not only entertains her readers but raises several questions worthy of discussion that surrounded the polio epidemic of the fifties.
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