A Reading Vocation

This is an appropriately dark bit of educational reading. The artwork is harrowing, and may be the best format to get through to kids first learning about the black plague how horrifying it really was. It is well written, clear, and competently illustrated. I did dock one star point because I felt it didn't adequately explain some things. It covered flagellates, for example, but it didn't make a clear connection between what they were doing and the plague -- that is, that they thought by self-mortification they could curry God's favor and perhaps relieve the suffering of the plague, etc. I was surprised to learn that the black plague still exists, but that we no longer catch it purely because of increased sanitation. Wow, do I love soap!