CurriConnects Book List - Medicine and Health
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Medicine and Health
Browse these biographies and non-fiction choices about people and places in medicine and medical research, including those who made scientific discoveries or pioneered new ways of treating disease. This list is a great complement to any science or health class.
Preschool and Picture Books
Growing Vegetable Soup - Lois Elhert, (978-0152325756), Fiction
Interest level: 1-3, Lexile: 0
A father and son grow the vegetables and make soup together.
I Hate to be Sick - Aamir Lee Bermiss, (978-0439568777), Fiction
Interest level: K-2, Lexile: 200
A youngster's father helps him feel better when he is home with a cold.
T. Rex - Vivian French, (978-0763621841), Fiction
Interest level: 1-3, Lexile: 640
A grandson and grandfather talk together as they visit a museum featuring an exhibit of the giant Tyrannosaurus rex dinosaur.
Early Elementary Books
Animal Rescue Club - John Himmelman, (978-0064442244), Fiction
Interest level: 2-4, Lexile: 360
Members of a special club find and care for injured and ill wild creatures.
Curious George Goes to the Hospital - H.A. Rey, (978-0395720264), Fiction
Interest level: 2-4, Lexile: 520
Curious George has to spend some time in the hospital after a puzzle-swallowing incident.
Dr. White - Jane Goodall, (978-0735810648), Fiction
Interest level: 2-4, Lexile: 0
Every day, Dr. White, a small white dog, visits a children's hospital and acts just like a dog, delighting the children and speeding their cures.
Germs - Ross Collins, (978-1582349268), Fiction
Interest level: 1-3, Lexile: 680
Told from the point of view of a bacteria, Pox, the star germ, goes off to give a young girl chicken pox, but he ends up boulstering up her immune system
Henry and Mudge Get the Cold Shivers - Cynthia Rylant, (978-0689810145), Non-fiction
Interest level: 2-4, Lexile: 480
Henry tries to nurse Mudge back to health.
Lots of Lice - Bobbi Katz, (978-0590108348), Non-fiction
Interest level: 1-3, Lexile: 460
Children learn how lice spread in school settings and how to prevent it from happening.
Make Way for Tooth Decay - Bobbi Katz, (978-0590522908), Non-fiction
Interest level: 1-4, Lexile: 210
Readers find out about the importance of brushing and the consequences of tooth decay.
Mrs. LaGrange is Strange - Dan Gutman, (978-0060822231), Fiction
Interest level: 2-5, Lexile: 650
When a new woman starts to cook in the school cafeteria, she finds interesting ways to send the children messages about healthy eating.
My Travelin' Eye - Jenny-Sue Kostecki-Shaw, (978-0805081695), Fiction
Interest level: 2-8, Lexile: 570
A young girl with an eye problem uses her "defect" to see the world differently and to handle problems with creativity and determination.
Open Wide: Tooth School Inside - Laurie Keller, (978-0805061925), Non-fiction
Interest level: 2-4, Lexile: 360
In this special school, all the students are teeth; readers learn how dentists and owners care for them.
Sweet Tooth - Margie Palatini, (978-0689851599), Fiction
Interest level: 1-3, Lexile: 390
Stewart's "talking molar" tries to take control of his eating by demanding constant sweets, but he finds a way to take control of his eating by informing the molar of his new, healthy habits.
Taking Medicine - Liz Gogerly, (978-0778741213), Non-fiction
Interest level: 2-5, Lexile: 660
The importance of following directions and taking medicine safely is stressed in this book of many in the "Looking After Me" series.
The Bravest Dog Ever: The True Story of Balto - Natalie Standiford, (978-0394896953), Fiction
Interest level: 1-3, Lexile: 300
Balto leads his sled team through a tough storm to deliver medicine for a diptheria epidemic.
The Magic School Bus inside Ralphie: A Book about Germs - Nancy White, (978-1568324302), Non-fiction
Interest level: 1-3, Lexile: 470
When Ralphie is sick, the Magic School bus takes a look at how germs work to make people sick.
Upper Elementary to Middle School Books
A Cool Moonlight - Angela Johnson, (978-0803728462), Fiction
Interest level: 3-12, Lexile: 1060
A young girl whose skin cannot tolerate sunlight longs for a day in the warm sunshine.
A Dolphin Named Bob - Twig C. George, (978-0064420792), Fiction
Interest level: 4-8, Lexile: 900
After saving a sick dolphin, owners of a marine aquariumare delighted when the dolphin's baby becomes a show star.
An Acquaintance with Darkness - Ann Rinaldi, (978-0152012946), Fiction
Interest level: 5-10, Lexile: 520
A young orphan girl must live with an uncle she suspects of body snatching after her mother's death and her best friend's family's loose association with the assassination of Lincoln in the 1800's.
Body and Health - Gerry Bailey, (978-1433900303), Non-fiction
Interest level: 3-6, Lexile: 750
This non-fiction books takes a brief ride through the history of medicine and the workings of the body.
Breath - Donna Jo Napoli, (978-0689861741), Fiction
Interest level: 8-12, Lexile: 620
In a twist on the Pied Piper of Hamelin tale, a young boy with cystic fibrosis appears immune to plagues tormenting the population in a small Medieval town.
Darkest Hour - Lauren Brooke, (978-0439425087), Fiction
Interest level: 7-10, Lexile: 600
When equine influenza strikes, Amy and Ty are busy trying to limit the outbreak.
Diary of a Fly - Doreen Cronin, (978-0060001568), Fiction
Interest level: 3-7, Lexile: 490
This humorous diary told from the point of view of a fly shows that even insects have grandiose ambitions and enjoy funny incidents.
Emmy - Connie Jordan Greene, (978-1604540000), Fiction
Interest level: 3-8, Lexile: 820
When her father becomes disabled in a coal mining accident, young Emmy takes over care and support of the family with the help of her 14-year-old brother who himself goes into the mines to work.
Fever, 1793 - Laurie Halse Anderson, (978-0689838583), Fiction
Interest level: 5-10, Lexile: 580
Mattie Cook and her grandmother escape Philadelphia during the yellow fever plague of 1793 after losing Mattie's mother to the disease; when they return, they get involved with helping the African Free Society, a real organization that provided assistance
George's Marvelous Medicine - Roald Dahl, (978-0141301112), Fiction
Interest level: 3-6, Lexile: 640
George wants to help his grandmother improve her spirits and her disposition!
Hippocrates: Making Way for Medicine - Teacher Created Materials, (978-0743905961), Non-fiction
Interest level: 3-5, Lexile: 550
This textbook, designed for the classroom, details the history of medicine starting with the great physician Hippocrates.
Hiroshima No Pika - Toshi Maruki, (978-0688012977), Fiction
Interest level: 8-12, Lexile: 620
The father in a family that experienced the nuclear bombing in Hiroshima dies from its effects; other members of the family also experience illness and despair.
I Want to Be a Veterinarian - Stefanie Maze, (978-0152019655), Non-fiction
Interest level: 6-10, Lexile: 1070
Learn about what it means to be a veterinarian.
I.Q. Gets Fit - Mary Ann Frasier, (978-0802795588), Fiction
Interest level: 3-6, Lexile: 700
I.Q., the classroom mouse, joins the school's fitness challenge.
Leaders in Medicine: Women in Profile - Shaun Hunter, (978-0778700326), Non-fiction
Interest level: 5-9, Lexile: 950
Read about important women doctors including Gerty Cori, Alice Hamilton, Elisabeth Kubler-Ross, Maria Montessori, Anne Spoerry, and Helen Taussig,
Lost in the Blinded Blizzard - John R. Erickson, (978-0141303925), Fiction
Interest level: 4-7, Lexile: 880
In this episode of the popular series featuring Hank the Cowdog, Hank tries to get medicine for an ailing friend despite the dangers of a blinding blizzard and an encounter with coyotes.
Medicine Woman - Lynn Andrews, (978-1585425266), Fiction
Interest level: 3-6, Lexile: 710
This autobiographical account traces the spiritual history and development of women who search for the deeper values of sustenance and aid.
Medieval Medicine and the Plague - Lynne Elliott, (077871358X), Non-fiction
Interest level: 5-9, Lexile: 1150
This wonderful history of medical practices during the Middle Ages will shock and amaze just as much as the symptoms and results of contracting the plague virus.
Melonhead - Katy Kelly, (978-0385904261), Fiction
Interest level: 3-7, Lexile: 650
Adam Melon, known as Melonhead, tries his hand at a contest requiring entrants to create a new invention from an old one in this spinoff from the popular Lucy Rose series.
Mind Games - Jeanne Marie Grunwell, (978-0618176724), Fiction
Interest level: 4-9, Lexile: 760
This novel, told in many voices and formats, takes readers through the parts of the scientific method as junior high students prepare for a science competition.
Mrs. Piggle Wiggle - Betty MacDonald, (978-0064401487), Fiction
Interest level: 3-8, Lexile: 1070
Mrs. Piggle Wiggle has a "cure" for several interesting childhood diseases such as "answerbackism."
Notso Hotso - Anne Fine, (978-0374355500), Fiction
Interest level: 5-8, Lexile: 650
Anthony's itchy skin and subsequent shaving causes him embarrassment until he pretends to be a lion.
Phineas L. MacGuire ... Erupts!: The First Experiment - Frances O'Roark Dowell, (978-1416901952), Fiction
Interest level: 4-10, Lexile: 810
Phineas gradually warms to being teamed up with a new "nerdy" student as his science fair research-preparation partner.
Sigmund Freud - Kathleen Krull, (978-0670058921), Non-fiction
Interest level: 4-9, Lexile: 1080
This biography of the original psychologist Sigmund Freud details his contributions to the field including the development of psycholanalysis and his belief in the importance of the unconscious.
The Dinosaurs of Waterhouse Hawkins: An Illuminating History of Mr. Waterhouse Hawkins, Ar - Barbara Kerley, (978-0439114943), Non-fiction
Interest level: 4-12, Lexile: 550
Benjamin Waterhouse Hawkins constructed dinosaur models to teach from; this biography tells his story in simple terms aided by illustrations based on Hawkins' original drawings.
The History News: Medicine - Phil Gates, (978-0836828771), Non-fiction
Interest level: 5-9, Lexile: 950
Read the history of medicine as pages from a newspaper including interviews, announcements, ads, editorials, and cartoons.
The Shaman's Apprentice: A Tale of the Amazon Rain Forest - Lynne Cherry, (978-0152012816), Fiction
Interest level: 3-8, Lexile: 890
Young Kamanya follows around a native healer called a shaman to learn about plants and their healing properties so he can be a shaman in the future
Total Constant Order - Crissa-Jean Chappell, (978-0060886059), Fiction
Interest level: 7-12, Lexile: 580
A teen attempting to live through her parents' nasty divorce comes down with obsessive compulsive disorder and tries to control her chaotic universe by counting and using other ritualistic behavior.
Weaver's Daughter - Kimberly Brubaker Bradley, (978-0385327695), Fiction
Interest level: 4-10, Lexile: 600
A ten-year-old girl moves with her family from Pennsylvania to modern-day Tennessee while suffering from asthma.
Middle School to Young Adult Books
A Bone From a Dry Sea - Peter Dickinson, (978-0385308212), Fiction
Interest level: 6-10, Lexile: 1040
Two young girls, one with a modern-day brain and one prehistoric, living four million years apart, each make important scientific discoveries related to each other.
A Circle of Time - Marisa Montes, (978-0152026264), Fiction
Interest level: 5-10, Lexile: 650
A girl looking down at herself while experiencing a coma runs into the ghost of another girl and time travels back to the time of the San Francisco earthquake to help save the girl in exchange for living through her coma and coming back to life.
A Season for Goodbye: One Last Wish - Lurlene McDaniel, (978-0553562651), Fiction
Interest level: 6-9, Lexile: 660
When one camp resident dies at a special camp for the terminally ill, the counselors must find ways to cope, both for themselves, and also for the other campers.
A Time of Angels - Karen Hesse, (978-0786800872), Fiction
Interest level: 5-10, Lexile: 650
The impact of the flu epidemic of 1918 force a young Jewish girl to rely on a helpful neighbor to find her family; her visions of angels also help her cope with her difficult life.
An American Plague: The True and Terrifying Story of the Yellow Fever Epidemic of 1793 - Jim Murphy, (978-0395776087), Non-fiction
Interest level: 6-12, Lexile: 1130
This books describes the social, political, and medical background of Philadelphia as its citizens struggle to deal with the scourge of yellow fever at a time when its transmission and treatment were badly misunderstood.
An Early Winter - Marion Bauer, (978-0395903728), Fiction
Interest level: 4-10, Lexile: 730
A young boy tries to show his aging grandfather a good time by taking him to their favorite fishing spot, but the grandfather's Alzheimer's turns the outing into a catastrophe.
Charlie's Raven - Jean Craighead George, (978-0525472193), Fiction
Interest level: 5-8, Lexile: 910
Charlie searches for a raven to try and help save his ailing grandfather.
Code Orange - Caroline Cooney, (978-0385732598), Fiction
Interest level: 6-12, Lexile: 850
When a young boy finds an envelope full of small pox scabs, he tries to find out if they are capable of infecting people; terrorists hear of his find and try to start a city-wide panic.
Cut - Patricia McCormick, (978-0439324595), Fiction
Interest level: 8-12, Lexile: 660
Burdened with feelings of guilt about her brother's illness, Callie begins cutting herself and has to enter a mental hospital for treatment.
Donutheart - Sue Stauffacher, (978-0440420651), Fiction
Interest level: 9-12, Lexile: 870
Franklin Delano Donuthead's continuing focus on his health and cleanliness is a constant challenge as he tries to participate in normal school activities.
Isaac Newton - Kathleen Krull, (978-0670059218), Non-fiction
Interest level: 8-12, Lexile: 1000
This biography of the famous scientist-mathematician Isaac Newton explains how he developed the theories behind calculus and the scientific method.
Joey Pigza Swallowed the Key - Jack Gantos, (978-0374336646), Fiction
Interest level: 6-9, Lexile: 970
Joey can't control his learning limitations when his medicine wears off; his mother has difficulties coping with his special needs
Lefty Carmichael has a Fit - Don Trembath, (978-1551431666), Fiction
Interest level: 8-12, Lexile: 740
Lefty has to find a balance between being cautious because of his newly-found epilepsy and continuing to enjoy life, but his girlfriend helps.
Love Medicine - Louise Erdrich, (978-0060786465), Fiction
Interest level: 8-12, Lexile: 780
This collection of beautifully written and haunting short stories examines the place the Native American spirit world plays in daily transactions and beliefs among the Chippewas in North Dakota.
Matilda Bonesetter - Karen Cushman, (978-0395881569), Fiction
Interest level: 5-12, Lexile: 800
A teen orphan ends up as apprentice to a bonesetter, and, despite her loneliness, she maintains an aloof presence in the small village, comforted only by her devotions to her spiritual beliefs.
Newes from the Dead - Mary Hooper, (978-1596433557), Fiction
Interest level: 7-12, Lexile: 1180
A 17th century housemaid explains the circumstances of her baby's death for which she was hanged.
Streams of Babel - Carol Plum-Ucci, (978-0152165567), Fiction
Interest level: 8-12, Lexile: 840
When a bio-terrorist strike infects teens in New Jersey, several young computer hackers assist the U.S. government in finding the attackers.
The Blood of Strangers: Stories from Emergency Medicine - Frank Huyler, (978-0312423568), Non-fiction
Interest level: 8-12, Lexile: 810
This book tells stories the author collected through his experiences in ER's where he worked as a physician.
The House on Hound Hill - Maggie Prince, (978-0395907023), Non-fiction
Interest level: 7-12, Lexile: 780
An unhappy teen whose parents have recently divorced and moved her to a new house finds herself in England at the time of the plague.
The Lemonade Club - Patricia Polacco, (978-0399245404), Fiction
Interest level: 4-8, Lexile: 740
A student and her teacher both face cancer treatment, but with each other's help, they find their challenges easier to take.
The True Adventures of Charley Darwin - Carolyn Meyer, (978-0152061944), Fiction
Interest level: 9-12, Lexile: 1060
This fictionalized account of the life of Charles Darwin begins when he is 9 and continues through his thirties when he has completed his voyage on the Beagle that led to many of his revolutionary discoveries; its first person format along with plenty of
Books for Mature Teens and Adults
Health Through Balance: An Introduction to Tibetan Medicine - Yeshi Donden, (978-0937938256), Non-fiction
Interest level: 10-12, Lexile: 1220
The Dalai Lama's personal physician describes his medical beliefs and practices as well as his work establishing the Tibetan Medical Center at Dharmsala in this series of lectures.
The Year They Burned the Books - Nancy Farmer, (978-0374386672), Fiction
Interest level: 7-12, Lexile: 720
A lesbian teenager fights the town where she lives to include sex education in the high school curriculum.
Walkin' Over Medicine - Loudell F. Snow, (978-0814327579), Non-fiction
Interest level: 10-12, Lexile: 1140
This history of medicine in the African American community includes looks at traditional treatment methods as well as the importance of community clinics paired with new medical developments.