Spring 2026

Diseases Without Borders

Plagues, Pandemics, and Beyond

  • Interest Level: Grade 6 - Grade 12
  • Reading Level: Grade 8

From the infamous Black Death to the 1918 flu to COVID-19, disease outbreaks have always marked human history.

But where they spread, how they spread, and how fast they move have all changed. As humans became more mobile, started trading goods and information across the globe, built bigger cities, increased their greenhouse gas emissions, and had more contact with wildlife and farm animals, disease began to spread easier and faster than ever before. At the same time, humans got better at preventing and combating outbreaks. But no prevention or treatment is perfect for every disease. When new outbreaks occur, people have to work together to figure out what causes the disease, how to prevent its spread, and how to treat it.

In Diseases Without Borders, explore several major diseases that have crossed international borders throughout time, including their causes, symptoms, treatments, and modern status, and what major factors contribute to their spread. Then consider an important question: What can we learn from the past and present to help predict and contain diseases in the future?

Format Your Price Add
979-8-7656-4807-0
On pre-order until 04/07/2026
$27.99
9798348000264
On pre-order until 04/07/2026
$41.99
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Interest Level Grade 6 - Grade 12
Reading Level Grade 8
Genre Social Studies, Young Adult
Category 5 Kinds of Nonfiction, 5KN: Traditional Nonfiction
Copyright 2026
Publisher Lerner Publishing Group
Imprint Twenty-First Century Books ™
Language English
Number of Pages 120
Publication Date 2026-04-07
Text Type Informational/Explanatory
BISACS YAN024030, YAN050110
Dewey 616
Dimensions 6 x 9
Features Author/Illustrator biography, Bibliography/further reading, Charts/Graphs/Diagrams, Glossary, Index, Photo captions, Primary source quotations/images, Source notes, and Table of contents

Author: Marc Zimmer

Marc Zimmer is the author of several nonfiction young adult books and a professor at Connecticut College, where he teaches chemistry and studies the proteins involved in producing light in jellyfish and fireflies. He received his Ph.D. in chemistry from Worcester Polytechnic Institute and did his post-doc at Yale University. He has published articles on science and medicine for the Los Angeles Times, USA Today and the Huffington Post, among many other publications. He lives in Waterford, Connecticut, with his wife, their two children, and a genetically modified fluorescent mouse named Prometheus.