• Age: 9 to 12
• Grade: 4 to 7
• Reading age: 9 to 12

★ “Rae provides all the information readers want to know [and] skillfully broaches the topic of anti-vaccination…An engaging and informative nonfiction text with all the facts about vaccinations. A must-have for middle school libraries.” — School Library Journal (SLJ), starred review

Vaccination is one of humanity's most effective and greatest discoveries.

Infections like the plague, smallpox and other deadly diseases have affected and killed people for thousands of years, but the invention of vaccines forever changed our relationship with these diseases. More recently the urgency of developing an effective vaccine during the COVID-19 pandemic brought vaccination to the public's attention. Simmering tensions around vaccine hesitancy, misinformation and mistrust of science came to the forefront.

Although an earlier form of protection against infectious diseases has been practiced for a long time, vaccines have only been around for 200 years. Why We Need Vaccines explores the history of vaccine discovery, the science of how vaccines work and the public-health achievements that vaccines have made possible. It also discusses vaccine mandates and inequality in access to vaccines on local and global scales. It challenges young readers to take responsibility for themselves, their families and their communities so we can all be part of the solution to take down infectious diseases.

The epub edition of this title is fully accessible.

Rowena Rae worked as a biologist specializing in aquatic ecosystems in Canada and New Zealand before becoming a freelance writer, editor and children’s author. She is the author of Rachel Carson and Ecology for Kids, as well as Chemical World and Upstream, Downstream in the Orca Footprints line. Rowena writes both fiction and nonfiction from her home in Victoria, British Columbia.

Rowena Rae's profile page

Paige Stampatori is an illustrator based in Kitchener, Ontario. She graduated from Sheridan College's Illustration program in 2020. Typically working in editorial illustration, Paige loves to create graphic, colorful images that are conceptually strong. Her favorite part of the creative process is the ideation stage. She finds it exciting to think of interesting ways to convey a message through a single image.

Paige Stampatori's profile page

• Commended, CCBC Best Books for Kids & Teens
• Commended, Top Grade: CanLit for the Classroom
• Commended, Junior Library Guild (JLG) Gold Standard Selection

“One of the more important books you can ever read. This book, although scientific, is a very easy read, one that everyone should take up to learn the importance of vaccinations in today’s life.”

Children's Literature Comprehensive Database (CLCD)

“Offers young audiences a detailed (…) account of the historical development of biological counters to diseases and epidemics.”

Kirkus Reviews

“Blends personal stories with engaging nonfiction…A timely narrative for young readers living in the aftermath of COVID-19.”

Booklist

“An informative book that will engage young readers and possibly even inspire a next generation of medical researchers and practitioners. Everyone who reads will be better informed about an important topic of our times. I highly recommend Why We Need Vaccines...to inform and stimulate thoughtful conversations about vaccines in the past, the present, and the future.”

CM: Canadian Review of Materials

★ “Rae provides all the information readers want to know [and] skillfully broaches the topic of anti-vaccination…An engaging and informative nonfiction text with all the facts about vaccinations. A must-have for middle school libraries.”

School Library Journal (SLJ), starred review