Germs: Fact and Fiction, Friends and Foes by Lesa Cline-Ransome (review)

Before you reach for that antibacterial soap, listen to the germ’s point of view. Narrator Salmonella (his friends call him Sam) is just trying to live up to his full potential, the same as his host. History is on his side, since he and his germ relatives were around long before before humans. In fact, they had been the conquering heroes for millennia until the likes of Van Leeuwenhoek and Pasteur identified them and learned to exterminate them: “That’s when WAR broke out. … Entire portions of my family were destroyed. But all anyone seemed to care about was the number of HUMAN lives being saved.” Sam also has plenty to say about the so-called good germs in his family, the ones that get along just fine with humans but are often swept away in antibacterial assaults. He makes some valid points, and, most importantly, he reminds readers that humans are part of the natural order, not above it or in opposition to it. In her closing notes, Cline-Ransome weighs in on the importance of handwashing in disease prevention (certainly not the argument Sam would endorse) but also makes the case that aggressive antibiotic treatments lead to indiscriminate destruction of germs good and bad, and that “superbugs” are a real threat. James Ransome’s pencil and watercolor artwork is a strong complement to Sam’s narration—capturing the tongue-in-cheek seriousness of a germ with an axe to grind (our lauded scientists come off as cerebral and callous, at best), while fun-loving, multi-hued germs are just regular guys and gals trying to get on with their lives. Yes, you should wash your hands—but have a little remorse.