posted on 26 Sep 2020

The Virus by Ben Martynoga, illustrated by Moose Allain

Drawing on my own experiences of the Covid-19 pandemic over the past six months, the whole notion of a mysterious, invisible virus that can kill people and change our way of life almost overnight is something that confuses and dismays adults almost as much as it does children. However, when it comes to children, the barrage of news and the daily diet of fear that has accompanied this pandemic must be especially bewildering. What on Earth is a virus and how can it be such a powerful enemy?

Biologist and science writer, Ben Martynoga has taken this head-on and written a book for younger readers that explains what’s happening and, ultimately, how we can learn to live with a virus that’s likely to be with us for the foreseeable future. He’s helped in this endeavour by the illustrator, Moose Allain who has used an almost cartoon-like animation technique to help the reader envision what they are reading.

It’s a powerful combination and, for me at least, the impact of the book comes from a refusal to over-simplify the text. There’s a real skill in writing about a complex issue in a way that communicates appropriately to the audience and doesn’t feel the need to dumb-down or fall back on silly gimmicks. The book treats its readers as young but intelligent and enquiring - and I really like that.

In the preface to the book which has been written by the eminent Nobel Prize winner, Paul Nurse, the story of the virus is described as ‘an adventure, an exciting journey’ and that’s exactly right. Martynoga starts at the beginning and explains what a virus is, how it operates and how it’s both a mighty potential foe but also a flimsy, vulnerable entity. Text and drawings work together to anthropomorphise the virus but never to simply cast it as a villain. As the text so rightly points out – it’s an entity that simply exists to do what it does and doesn’t have any axe to grind.

We also get an introduction to the defence mechanisms of our own bodies that are there to protect us as best they can against the invasion of these alien viruses. Covid-19 isn’t, of course, the only threat we face or have faced in the past and so our immune systems are used to responding to these threats – but when new ones we’ve never witnessed before crop up, our own defences have to play catch-up.

And, of course, the next logical question to confront is where these viruses come from - and Martynoga and Allain are onto this too. You’ll be disturbed to hear that:

“…there could be as many as 800,000 virus species lurking in the world’s forests, swamps, caves and savannahs, which all have the potential to spillover and infect humans.”

Although such spillovers are rare, they do seem to be happening with increasing frequency and, it transpires, that’s pretty much down to us humans, our success in populating so much of the Earth’s surface and our behaviour.

I actually think this is a riveting read for young readers and adults alike who have never had cause to think too much about viruses, what they are and what they get up to. As well as the dangerous ones we probably could do without, there are plenty that we need and help us as a species. Either way, we have to learn to live with them and we can only do that if we understand what they are and what they do.

This book is a fantastic first step in that process of understanding.

 

Terry Potter

September 2020.