Jonas Salk for kids: a true picture book
Can You Patent the Sun?. Jonas Salk and the Polio Vaccine 10 pages, fact-checked, at three reading levels, read aloud.
The lesson: Work on the problem that hurts the most people, then share the answer.
Read the first pages free
Clink! Clink! Jonas Salk opens a lab. A lab is a room for finding answers.
In 1947, Jonas Salk started a lab at the University of Pittsburgh. Clink went the glass bottles. Tap went the tubes. This lab was for studying viruses.
In 1947, Jonas Salk started a virus lab at the University of Pittsburgh. A virus is a germ so tiny you can't see it, even with an ordinary magnifying glass, and some viruses make people very sick. A lab like this one is a workshop for questions. Shelves of glass bottles, rows of tubes and careful notes were the tools Jonas would need for the hard work ahead.
Page 1 of 10
Summer is here. Splash! But families worry. Polio can make children unable to walk.
Summer meant swimming and sunshine. But every summer, families worried about polio. Polio was a disease that could leave children unable to walk.
In the 1950s, summer should have meant swimming, bikes and long sunny days. Instead, every summer, families worried about polio. Polio was a disease that could leave children unable to walk. A disease is an illness, something that makes the body stop working the way it should. No parent knew which child it might reach next, so the worry came back every year with the warm weather.
Page 2 of 10
Jonas Salk: a timeline of true facts
- 1950s Polio was a disease that could leave children unable to walk, and every summer families worried about it. source
- 1947 Jonas Salk started a virus lab at the University of Pittsburgh. source
- 1952 The United States had about 58,000 cases of polio in 1952, the worst year on record. source
- 1953 He tested his vaccine on himself and his own family to show he trusted it. source
- 1954 About 1.8 million children took part in a giant test of the vaccine. They were called Polio Pioneers. source
- 1955 On April 12, 1955, scientists announced that the vaccine was safe and worked. source
- 1955 He did not patent the vaccine. When a TV reporter asked who owned it, he said the people did, and asked if you could patent the sun. source
- 1960 He founded the Salk Institute in California, a place where scientists work on big questions about life and health. source
3 reading levels
- Read to me (ages 3–5)
- Read together (ages 6–8)
- I'll read (ages 9–12)
The same true story, written three ways. Little kids hear short, bouncy lines; big kids get the details and the numbers.
Quiz time
Who did Jonas test the vaccine on first?
Show the answer
Himself and his family.
Try this at home
- Be a scientist: put a little water in three cups and add salt to one, sugar to one and nothing to the last. Guess what happens, then check and write it down like Jonas did in his lab.
- Share like Jonas: make something good, like cookies or a drawing, and give it to neighbors or friends instead of keeping it.
- Ask a big question: think of a problem that bothers lots of people at home or school, draw three ideas to fix it and test the best one.
