Immune System - The Human Body

This is how much I think about books! I checked out Farmhouse by Sophie Blackall from the library, and even though today I'm supposed to finish writing end of year reports and do all the dishes and get the oil changed in the truck and pack for our trip... I can't stop thinking about this book.

The reference to illness in the book is brief: "the youngest one, who lay with a fever and a spotted tongue"

But it got me thinking about our Science Club topic for the coming year, Human Anatomy & Physiology. When we get to the Immune System, it would be nice to have handy a collection of references to illness in stories. Waldorf always connects everything to a story!

(This is a companion post to The Barometer, which I will find extremely useful the next time I have to teach about weather and/or air pressure.)

So I would appreciate a group brainstorm. Of course, some books are wholly about illness (like Rebellion 1776 and Fever 1793 by Laurie Halse Anderson) but I'm particularly looking for short references that would be easy for me to bookmark with a stickie note and have a child read aloud during a group discussion of the Immune System.

unknown disease

Farmhouse by Sophie Blackall

malaria

Little House on the Prairie by Laura Ingalls Wilder
chapter 15, “Fever 'N' Ague”

mumps

The Great Brain by John D. Fitzgerald
chapter 2, "Revenge Can Be Sour"

smallpox

Rebellion 1776 by Laurie Halse Anderson

The Birchbark House by Louise Erdrich
chapter 10, "The Visitor"

yellow fever

Fever 1793 by Laurie Halse Anderson

I'm hopeful that by writing these notes down, I can finally quiet my brain and get back to my packing! Of course, the Immune System is not the only potential curriculum tie-in for Sophie Blackall's lovely book.

I could use it for run-on sentences (and breaking rules for artistic license).

I could use it in SWI for The < house > Family.

It is also an example of a book illustrated with collages using found items!

Sophie Blackall writes in the Author's Note, "Imagine my excitement, then, to buy an old farm that came with a falling-down house where twelve children were born and raised -- a house willed with scraps and fragments that helped me imagine the lives lived within its walls.... In the autumn, I carried out a pile of mud-caked rags, which turned out to be twenty-one handmade dresses. Fused clumps of wallpaper soaked in warm water revealed layers of vibrant patterns. I teased apart moldy pictures of schoolbooks and learned something of the personalities of the Swantak children born in this house.... The pictures in this book are made of layers. I began with the reverse side of a roll of wallpaper and added floors and walls and furniture, made from scraps and fragments I found in the house."

This post contains affiliate links to materials I truly use for homeschooling. Qualifying purchases provide me with revenue. Thank you for your support!