The Invisible War: A Tale on Two Scales is a graphic novel that tells two stories at the same time. First, it tells the story of a nurse who is helping the cause during World War I. Second, it tells the story of dangerous dysentery microbes as they try to make their colony thrive. It is a short, interesting story that would be good for both homeschooling families and interested teens/adults. I was fortunate in receiving a free copy from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
On the macro scale, we read the tale of a World War I nurse who contracts dysentery from one of her patients. We see her interacting with patients, talking to her friends, and going about her daily life in the war. By no means will you be an expert on World War I by reading this graphic novel, but you might get a better idea of what these heroes faced. Our heroine was an Australian nurse, so it’s interesting to see the war from a non-US perspective.
On the micro scale, we see the battle that dysentery microbes fight inside the gut of our heroine against her helpful cells that are trying to destroy them. We see them try to find a suitable place to colonize and thrive, and then, as our heroine’s immune system kicks in, we see the bacteriophage in her gut fight back. Again, reading The Invisible War won’t make you an expert on microbiology, but it’s a fun peek inside our immune systems to let us see what we deal with every day.
This graphic novel is cute, fast-paced, and informative. As a homeschooling mom, I plan on making my kids read this book myself. I would recommend this for kids (and even interested adults) in junior high or above.
In addition to the cute comic that this book has, the back of the book has more information about the subjects in the book. It is supposed to be interactive, but I had difficulty getting the interactive parts of this book to work, so I just read the comic and then read the extra information at the end. I was able to learn more about viruses and what it was like to be in World War I by reading this supplemental information.
If viruses and World War I is something you find interesting and you want a more detailed account, I would recommend The Great Influenza by John M. Barry, which details the Spanish flu that killed 50 million people during World War I. If you just want a quick read that presents this subject in a fun way, then I recommend this book.
There is a new version of this book coming out on January 1st that is currently available for pre-order. While the book that I read was the older edition, the newer version is less expensive.