Frank Carlson Library

The author describes her battle against polio when she was thirteen and her efforts to overcome its debilitating effects.

When a waiting world learned on April 12, 1955, that Jonas Salk had successfully created a vaccine to prevent poliomyelitis, he became a hero overnight. Born in a New York tenement, humble in manner, Salk had all the makings of a twentieth-century icon-a knight in a white coat. In the wake of his achievement, he received a staggering number of awards and honors; for years his name ranked with Gandhi and Churchill on lists of the most revered people....

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 1921, FDR contracted polio. Just as he began to set his sights on the New York governorship--and, with great hope, the presidency--FDR became paralyzed from the waist down. FDR faced a radical choice: give up politics or reenter the arena with a disability, something never seen before. With the help of Eleanor and close friends, Roosevelt made valiant strides toward rehabilitation and became even more focused on becoming president, proving that...

Caring for a runt lamb helps Pixie gain empathy when, in the 1940s, her family moves to her grandparents' farm and her sister Charlotte contracts polio and is sent away.

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...

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.