Terrible Typhoid Mary: A True Story of the Deadliest Cook in America

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Campbell Bartoletti, Susan. 2015. TERRIBLE TYPHOID MARY: A TRUE STORY OF THE DEADLIES COOK IN AMERICA. New York; Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. ISBN 978-0-544-31367-5.

PLOT SUMMARY

Mary Mallon is a cook that has worked for many wealthy families.  Not much is known of her since she is a quiet person who keeps to herself.  Six people from the household she is working at fall sick from typhoid fever.  After some investigation Mary is seen as the culprit of that outbreak as well as having caused other people from other households she worked at to get sick.  After many failed attempts to have Mary collaborate with the health department to collect body specimens, Mary is forcefully taken to a quarantine hospital to collect the necessary specimens.  Even though, Mary has never fallen sick to typhoid fever as an adult, or to her recollection as a child, Mary is known as what they call a “healthy carrier.”

CRITICAL ANALYSIS

Bartoletti presents Mary’s story through well researched facts regarding typhoid fever, medical protocol, and even on yellow journalism.  The first-hand accounts by Mary are limited but her personality comes to life through second-hand accounts and the use of Bartoletti use of Mary’s unpublished letter to the editor of the New York American and her will.  Bartoletti does a well job with the organization of her information which keeps the reader interested in what will happen next.  She has also provided a photo album at the end with photographs of some of the doctors that dealt with Mary during the time before and after her quarantine.   There are photographs provided of the place Mary was quarantined and a portrayed of her during her court hearing.  One must wonder what would have happened if Mary had agreed to provide her specimens the first time she was asked instead of denying?  Would she have been mistreated and embarrassed as she was? She was not the only “healthy carrier” yet no other “healthy carrier” was treated like she was. 

REVIEW EXCERPT(S)

Orbis Pictus Honor Book 2016

HBOOK review: “Excellent nonfiction with a novelistic trim size and narrative.”

KIRKUS review: “A creative approach, strong on vivid details and words that appeal to the senses, animates this biography of Typhoid Mary.”

SCHOOL LIBRARY JOURNAL review: “Compelling…Energetic, even charming prose will easily engage readers.”

CONNECTIONS

Have students compare and contrast several books on Mary Mallon.

Jarrow, Gail. Fatal Fever: Tracking Down Typhoid Mary. ISBN 1620915979.

Morley, Jacqueline. You Wouldn’t Want to Meet Typhoid Mary! ISBN 0531230414

Read other books on diseases and their history in the United States such as:

Murphy, Jim. An American Plague: The True and Terrifying Story of the Yellow Forever Epidemic of 1793. ISBN 0395776082.

Marrin, Albert. Very, Very, Very Dreadful:  The Influenza Pandemic of 1918. ISBN 1101931469.

Have students create a bookmark or poster board on a chosen disease.