The Secret of the Yellow Death; A True Story of Medical Sleuthing by Suzanne Jurmain

If you think you don't have to worry about Yellow Fever, think again in this era of Global Warming. It was called the yellow death and it was a feared killer. The United States army decided at the turn of the 1900s that they had to find what this killer was and how people got it since it was killing too many of its soliders. A team lead by Walter Reed - yes, that hospital is named after him, goes to Cuba to track the killer. Theories of how it was transmitted were tested and the one that most thought was the most outlandish and crazy may be the one, but how to test it out. Could you really pay someone to volunteer to get this killer? What type of person would volunteer but turn down all that money? If you enjoy a good whodunit, science, history, or just love reading about things that kill lots of people, this is the book for you.  Yellow Fever is still killing people around the world even with a vaccine if they can't afford it or the government can't afford to provide it.   

Ain't Nothing But a Man; My Quest to Find the REal John Henry by Scott Reynolds Nelson with Marc Aronson

I have read picture books about John Henry to students for over 30 years and never thought he might have been a real person like Johnny Appleseed was. He was just a legend like Paul Bunyan, but was he and how hard would the real story be to track down. If you like watching those programs on finding the truth, uncovering past injustice, and how awful United State's history can be for those not male, white, and Protestant, you will enjoy the tangled leads and how luck plays a roll in everything. Did Scott really find a picture of the real man? How did prison records that many wanted hidden help? You will even hear the real story of how the music your parents or grandparents called Rock and Roll got its name.