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In this unique book, young readers meet Robert, a boy undergoing a smallpox vaccination. As they follow Robert's journey, they discover the story of Dr. Edward Jenner, who pioneered the concept of vaccination and created a vaccine that changed the world—the smallpox vaccine. Inspired by what he encounters as a boy, Robert grows into a scholarly young man who graduates from the Katharine Lady Berkeley Grammar School and begins an apprenticeship with Dr. Jenner. As Robert navigates his training, he learns the details of Dr. Jenner's career and personal life. He also learns an important lesson that the book's youthful audience can take to heart: while one's career is an important aspect of one's life, it is not all-defining. Being a life-long learner is the key to a fulfilled existence.
Pioneering women like Madame Jenner and Mistress Olivia take a forefront in the book and are used as positive messengers of vaccination's societal and individual good. Mistress Olivia, Robert's childhood dormitory mistress, is a motherly figure who grew up on a dairy farm. When the boys question why Mistress Olivia doesn't have to be variolated, Mistress Olivia states, "Gentlemen, smallpox and cowpox are basically the same disease. So, people who work around cows come into contact with cowpox and don't get sick." After Dr. Jenner reveals to Robert a family secret, Madame Jenner, nonetheless, proves to be a revolutionary in her own right: "Imagine, inoculating your own infant at age 10 months with swinepox! It was unbelievable."
The relevancy of this book is part of its intrigue. The book reminds readers that the concept of vaccination has, even historically, often been met with great resistance: "Many were frustrated with their hometown physicians and scoffed at variolation and some ridiculed variolation." Thus, the book becomes an important teaching tool, one that parents can utilize to educate not only themselves but also their children who may have questions about vaccination. Then, as Robert's studies progress, readers learn how one scientific and medical breakthrough can lead to another, therefore revolutionizing the predecessor's research and its results. The book concisely details Dr. Jenner's methods, methods that he researched thoroughly, which parallels the intense research process today's vaccines and medical processes undergo before being distributed and recommended to the public.
By the book's end, readers have taken a fictional but interesting journey through the life of one of the world's greatest scientists. They learn that without Dr. Jenner's relentless pursuit to develop the vaccination process, the world today would not be free of smallpox. Another interesting feature of this book is the interactive nature created by the "Researching Topics" portion, which asks readers to perform their own fact-checking. The incorporation of this section reinforces the importance of the research process in their own everyday lives. Historically insightful and contemporarily pertinent, this book is sure to fascinate young readers and parents from the first page to the last. It would likely be a welcome addition to a school library as well as a home one.