Rooney, Anne. A World After Super-Plague.

Rooney, Anne.  A World After Super-Plague.  Capstone/Heinemann    2014  56p   ISBN 978-1-4329-7621-7    jr/sr     E-BN  Nonfiction 

More realistic than zombie outbreaks, but just as chilling, this book offers an intriguing look at the possible consequences of a global pandemic event, with ideas and evidence based on similar scenarios from fact and fiction.  By following a fictional illness from Patient Zero in Vietnam to its conclusion 155 days later, A World After Super-Plague details the events that would follow the outbreak and spread of a global pandemic without flinching from harsh realities. The likelihood of death, vaccination shortages, and lawlessness are presented without unnecessary fear-mongering or sensationalism, but the potential for devastation is still clear.  Along with the fictional Hanoi flu made up for this book, information about other pandemics is used to illustrate points in the development, spread, cure, and aftermath of a global pandemic.  Some of the other illnesses mentioned include the bubonic plague, the Spanish flu outbreak of 1918, SARS, H5N1 avian flu, and Ebola fever.  The book also includes a glossary, a Find Out More section, and suggestions for writing stories set during pandemics.  The Find Out More section is absolutely fantastic, directing readers toward fictional and nonfiction books and movies as well as websites and even an iPad/iPhone app that allows you to define and develop a pandemic disease and attempt to wipe out humanity with it.  The suggestions for writing a story set during a pandemic are excellent for aspiring writers, providing questions to consider in designing the plague as well as pointing out the (un)likelihood of an infected city being destroyed to stop the spread of plague and the need for more than just a setting, but also plotting and characterization.     

Books in the four-volume A World After... series contain a graphic novel-style prologue, assessments of how likely it is that events will occur, and engaging extracts from dystopian novels.   

Summary: An intriguing and chilling book that traces the possible consequences of a global pandemic event, with ideas and evidence based on similar scenarios from fact and fiction.  Also includes a glossary, a Find Out More section, and suggestions for writing stories set during pandemics.

Pandemics                                             --Bethany Geleskie