Book Descriptions
for Quicksand by Anonymous
From Cooperative Children's Book Center (CCBC)
The anonymous author of this informative work begins by explaining she would prefer to be open about her identity but is keeping it veiled at the request of family members, including one who lived with HIV and eventually died of AIDS. This narrative moves back and forth between a straightforward question-and-answer format and the author’s moving account of her brother-in-law’s battle with the disease. The Q & A presents timely, relevant information about HIV/AIDS—the difference between them, how HIV is and is not transmitted, the emotional impact of a family member or a friend’s diagnosis, the secrecy that can still exist around the disease, types of treatment, legal issues, and more. The personal story, in which the author includes her own response to events as they unfolded, spans more than ten years from the mid-1990s to 2006. In addition to personalizing her message of the importance of compassion, it also offers the opportunity to look at the recent history of HIV/AIDS from both a medical and a social perspective. Places to go for more information, a glossary, and a bibliography complete this volume written to engage older children and teens. (Ages 10–15)
CCBC Choices 2010. © Cooperative Children's Book Center, Univ. of Wisconsin - Madison, 2010. Used with permission.
From the Publisher
What is it like to be affected by HIV/AIDS? A moving first-person account offers insight — and basic facts.
ONE DAY I FOUND OUT THAT SOMEONE I KNOW — MY BROTHER-IN-LAW, JAY — HAD HIV/AIDS. AT THE MOMENT I HEARD HIS DIAGNOSIS, I REALIZED THAT I HAD STEPPED INTO THE QUICKSAND OF A NEW AND TERRIBLE WORLD — AND I WAS SINKING FAST.
Weaving together her own story with straightforward questions and answers, the author explains the real ways that HIV/AIDS can be transmitted and explores the common experiences and emotions that might be encountered by friends and family members of someone who has the virus. She also discusses why HIV/AIDS is often still kept a secret and the importance of treating this condition like any other. With up-to-date medical information that has been thoroughly vetted by experts, this first-person narrative offers an invaluable look at what it is like to watch someone you know battle HIV/AIDS.
ONE DAY I FOUND OUT THAT SOMEONE I KNOW — MY BROTHER-IN-LAW, JAY — HAD HIV/AIDS. AT THE MOMENT I HEARD HIS DIAGNOSIS, I REALIZED THAT I HAD STEPPED INTO THE QUICKSAND OF A NEW AND TERRIBLE WORLD — AND I WAS SINKING FAST.
Weaving together her own story with straightforward questions and answers, the author explains the real ways that HIV/AIDS can be transmitted and explores the common experiences and emotions that might be encountered by friends and family members of someone who has the virus. She also discusses why HIV/AIDS is often still kept a secret and the importance of treating this condition like any other. With up-to-date medical information that has been thoroughly vetted by experts, this first-person narrative offers an invaluable look at what it is like to watch someone you know battle HIV/AIDS.
Publisher description retrieved from Google Books.
