“Some of the kids never stopped crying, not from pain, but from fear and loneliness.” These haunting words from Peg Kehret’s award winning book Small Steps: The Year I Got Polio remind us of a time when the fight against the disease was far from over. It is a fight we cannot afford to relive.
More than 35 children’s books recount the polio epidemics of the mid-20th century, ranging from fiction to biographies of Dr. Jonas Salk (the discoverer of the polio vaccine) to nonfiction exploring the science and historical impact of the disease. While today’s children may not face the same threat of polio, their voices are noticeably absent amid the growing questions and fears sparked by the culture wars. Several weeks ago, one of our young granddaughters asked why polio is on the news all the time.