Central Kansas Library System

A suspenseful, authoritative account of how the battle against a mid-century polio epidemic sparked a revolution in medical care. Americans knew polio as the "summer plague." In countries further North, however, the virus arrived later in the year, slipping into the homes of healthy children as the summer waned and the equinox approached. It was described by one writer as "the autumn ghost." Intensive care units and mechanical ventilation are the...

"A nonfiction picture book about Jonas Salk and the invention of the polio vaccine"--

Playground director Bucky Cantor struggles to deal with the emotional and physical turmoil he faces as the polio epidemic ravages the children he cares for and about in 1940's Newark, New Jersey.

"As a child with polio in the early 1900s, swimming set Ethelda Bleibtrey free. The water released her from her pain and helped her build strong muscle--and a powerful spirit. From then on, from the New York beaches to the 1920 Olympics, Ethelda made a splash wherever she went"--

In autumn 1932 Tommy McKnight, a twelve-year-old boy disabled by polio, and bullied at school for his disability--but inspired by Franklin Roosevelt's story and his campaign for the presidency, decides to run for the seventh grade class presidency at his Brooklyn school.

In 1940s New Orleans, Fish Elliot is a polio-survivor with a knack for inventing and building things, and his African American neighbor Olympia is a girl with a talent for messing things up, but they are united in an effort to save a starving stray dog they call Liberty--and when Liberty is caged by a nasty farmer, they find an unlikely ally in a German prisoner of war, Erich, who is not much older than the two children.

In 1941, circumstances bring together Brick, a boy from New York's apple country, and Mariel, a young girl made shy by her bout with polio, and the two make a journey from Brooklyn back to help Brick's elderly neighbors save their apple crop and to help Mariel learn about her past.

In the summer of 1952, Betsy sees her vacation fun overshadowed by the spreading polio epidemic, while her mother and other scientists work frantically to develop a vaccine for the crippling disease.

The Master's Muse is an exquisite, deeply affecting novel about the love affair between two artistic legends: George Balanchine, widely considered the Shakespeare of dance, and his wife and muse, Tanny Le Clercq. A talented young ballerina whose dreams were coming true, Tanny was married to the love of her life, George Balanchine. She danced the best roles, and was featured in fashion magazines and television dramas. She socialized with renowned artists...