Pandemics and Epidemics: Introduction

BACKGROUND

This Topic Explorer set looks at pandemics and epidemics with specific reference to Aotearoa New Zealand, the impact on Maori communities and also the wider Pacific region. 

DEFINITIONS

EPIDEMIC

An epidemic is the abnormally high level of a disease at a particular time. It usually refers to infectious diseases, but it is also possible to have epidemics of non-infectious diseases such as heart disease and diabetes, and conditions such as obesity.

PANDEMIC

A pandemic occurs when an epidemic spreads from one country to another and becomes prevalent around the world. New Zealand has experienced three pandemics – all influenza – in 1890–94, 1918 and 2009.

Source: Epidemics - Epidemics, pandemics and disease control, Te Ara - the Encyclopedia of New Zealand

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Use our lending service to order these books and other related topics associated with epidemics and pandemics.

PICTURE BOOKS

(Some picture book titles sent by Julie that are on related content around helping behaviour and resilience)

Henry Bob Bobbalich by Juliette MacIver, 2016 (junior). 

Little wise wolf by Gijs van der Hammen &  Siemensma, 2018 ( junior).

Tomorrow I'll be brave by Jessica Hische, 2018 (junior). 

FICTION

The deadly flu by Kerry Greenwood, 2012 (intermediate, secondary).

A death-struck year by Makiia Lucier, 2014 (secondary).

Enemy at the gate by Philippa Werry, 2008 (primary, intermediate, secondary).

Great tales from New Zealand history by Gordon McLauchlan, 2014 (primary, intermediate).

The horses of Follyfoot by Monica Dickens, (primary, intermediate).

In the shadow of blackbirds: a novel by Cat Winters, 2013 (secondary).

One for sorrow: a ghost story by Mary Downing Hahn, 2017 (primary, intermediate).

Pandemic: Spanish flu, 1918 by Sally Stone, 2012 (intermediate, secondary).

Staying home: my true diary of survival by Jesse O, 2010 (intermediate, secondary).

NON FICTION

Black flu 1918: the story of New Zealand's worst public health disaster by Geoffrey W. Rice, 2017 (secondary).

Black November: the 1918 influenza pandemic in New Zealand by Geoffrey W. Rice; with assistance from Linda Bryder, 2005 (secondary).

Ebola: how a viral fever changed history by Mark L. Lewis, 2019 ( primary, intermediate).

Engineering solutions for epidemics and pandemics by Kara Rogers, 2020 (primary, intermediate).

Epidemics & pandemics by James Shoals, 2019 (secondary).

Epidemics and pandemics: real tales of deadly diseases by Judy Dodge Cummings, 2018 (intermediate, secondary).

Flu: the story of the great influenza pandemic of 1918 and the search for the virus that caused it by Gina Kolata, 2005 (secondary).

The influenza pandemic of 1918-1919 by Paul Kuppberg, 2008 (intermediate).

The 1918 flu pandemic by Katherine Krohn, 2008 (primary, intermediate).

The 1918 flu pandemic: core events of a worldwide outbreak by John Micklos, 2015 (primary).

The pandemic century : a history of global contagion from the Spanish flu to Covid-19 by Mark Honigsbaum,  2020 (secondary).

Pandemic: how climate, the environment, and superbugs increase the risk by Connie Goldsmith, 2019 (secondary).

Pandemic 1918: eyewitness accounts from the greatest medical holocaust in modern history by Catharine Arnold (secondary).

Pandemic 1918: the story of the deadliest influenza in history by Catharine Arnold, 2018 (secondary).

Very, very, very dreadful: the influenza pandemic of 1918 by Albert Marrin, 2018 (intermediate, secondary).

Ebooks on covid-19

Access a collection of free ebooks in multiple languages about coronavirus from the New York City School Library System. 

Coronavirus: A book for children by Alex Scheffler, 2020 ( primary).

This story was curated and compiled by Te Puna Mātauranga o Aotearoa | National Library of New Zealand, Services to Schools staff, April 2020.