Presented By:

Bianca M.
Wendy B.
Sara F.
Keri S.
Mary-Katherine H.
ALL ABOUT THE AUTHOR
WHO IS THE AUTHOR?
- Grew up on the Pacific Island of Guam
- Attended both the University of Oregon and the
University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee and earned
degrees in journalism and library science.
- A Death-Struck Year was her first novel and also a
“Best Books for Children” by the American
Booksellers Association.
- Currently lives with family in North Carolina.
AUTHOR AUTHENTICITY
- Makiia Lucier has always had a fascination
with plagues. The author went to the University
of Oregon and the book takes place in Portland,
Oregon. These two are only 1 hour and 45
minutes from each other. She spent a lot of time
researching the city of Portland for her book by
simply walking around many of the town’s
historical and notable spots. She also conducted
research at the Oregon Historical society.
2
 Cleo Berry
Cleo Berry is the protagonist. She was orphaned
at a young age when her parents both tragically
passed away. Her loving older brother and his
wife assumed the role of her guardians. At the
time of the novel, Cleo is 17 years old and, like
many of the girls in her school, is still struggling
to decide on what she wants to do with her future.
When the Spanish Flu of 1918 reaches the West
Coast and Cleo’s hometown of Portland, Oregon,
she feels called to serve as a volunteer with the
Red Cross to care for the many people who were
affected by the sickness.
3
Other Characters:
◈ Jackson Berry: Cleo’s older brother who took on the role of her guardian after the
car accident that killed their parents.
◈ Lucy Berry: Jack’s wife who is both a caretaker and a friend to Cleo.
◈ Mrs. Foster: The housekeeper who has taken care of the Berry’s and their domestic
needs since before both Berrys were born.
◈ Miss Elliot: The headmistress of St. Helen’s. She is kind to the girls but very stern.
◈ Hannah Flynn: One of the women in charge at the Red Cross hospital. Hannah is
both a supervisor and a friend to Cleo during the pandemic and her time with the
Red Cross.
◈ Edmund Parrish: A young doctor who is the primary physician at the Red Cross
hospital.
◈ Katherine Bennett: A fellow young volunteer at the Red Cross. Kate becomes
Cleo’s closest friend during the pandemic.
4
SETTING
WHAT IS THE SETTING?

This story takes place

in Portland, Oregon
and spans two months
in 1918. During this
time, Portland was
dealing with the
“Spanish Flu”
epidemic.
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PLOT
STORY PLOT
Seventeen year old Cleo Berry is left to stay at her boarding school, St. Helen’s, under
the care of Miss Elliot because her brother and sister-in-law, Jackson and Lucy Berry,
are going away on vacation for their anniversary. News of the Spanish Flu spreads
through the school as it simultaneously spreads through the country. The city begins to
shut down as people begin to fall ill and the school decides to quarantine its students.
Many families come to pick up their girls as the illness overtakes Portland, Oregon
while other girls, including Cleo, decide to leave the safety of the school on their own.
After seeing a newspaper advertisement asking for volunteers for the Red Cross, Cleo
signs up to help. Once there, she is confronted with the horrors of the disease and does
what she can to help find and treat the afflicted. Along the way she meets Hannah Flynn,
Kate Bennett, and Edmund Parrish who all form a sort of family as they do their best to
battle the disease at the hospital while trying to stay healthy themselves as they
anxiously await a vaccine to end the nightmare once and for all.
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POLITICAL, GEOGRAPHIC,ECONOMIC,
HISTORICAL CONTEXT

9
HISTORICAL IMAGES - 1918 Pandemic

10
 HISTORICAL CONTEXT
MASKS:
1. The U.S. led the world in mandating
masks in 1918 when 4,000 new cases hit
San Francisco in October 1918. There was
little consensus on how the virus started,
but it was first identified in military
personnel in Spring 1918.
MORTALITY:
2. An estimated 50 million people died
worldwide, which was 1/3 of the world
population. There were 675,000 US deaths.
3. Morality was high in
a. children younger than 5 years old
b. 20-40 year olds
c. 65 years old and older
LEADERSHIP: President Woodrow Wilson and
his administration tried to downplay the 1918
pandemic. Presidential historian Tevi Troy
calls “Wilson the worst U.S. president in terms
of handling a disaster.” He states that Wilson
contributed to its spread by continuing to
mobilize troops, though WWI was winding
down.
President Wilson became ill with it at the Big
Four peace talks in April 1919. He had
delusions, suffered a stroke, and became
“partially paralyzed and blind (CNN.com). He
never recovered and was dead three years
later.
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HISTORICAL CONTEXT
VIRUS CONTROL METHODS: With no vaccine or
antibiotics to treat secondary bacterial infection, control
efforts were used similar to the 2020 pandemic:

● Isolation
● Quarantine
● Good personal hygiene
● Use of disinfectants
● Limits on public gatherings
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POLITICAL CONTEXT
During the Spanish Flu Woodrow Wilson
was the President of the United States.
“President Woodrow Wilson was fighting
both kinds of war: the Great War in
Europe was in its final stages as the flu
pandemic swept the globe, including the
United States. Wilson chose to focus on
the battlefronts of Europe, virtually
ignoring the disease that ravaged the
home front and killed about 675,000
Americans” (August, 2020).
In terms of managing a federal response
to the pandemic, “there was no
leadership or guidance of any kind
directly from the White House,” historian
John M. Barry, author of The Great
Influenza: The Story of the Deadliest
Pandemic in History, tells TIME.
“Wilson wanted the focus to remain on
the war effort. Anything negative was
viewed as hurting morale and hurting the
war effort.”
- Melissa August
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GEOGRAPHIC CONTEXT
The story takes place in the
Pacific Northwest in
Portland,Oregon during the
deadly 1918 flu pandemic. The
story depicts the experience of a
teenage girl during the Spanish
Influenza. The Spanish Influenza
spread world wide during
1918-1919.
In the United States ⅓ of the
world’s population became
infected with this virus. The
author depicts the experience of
people in Oregon during the the
outbreak. The story goes into
detail and gives a great snapshot
into Oregon life during WWI
and the Spanish Flu.
14
ECONOMIC CONTEXT
- There is a lack of economic data
- While they were significant, the economic
effects were not long lasting.
- Entertainment businesses were
experiencing double-digit losses.
- While healthcare services experienced an
increase of revenue.
- Shortage of people to work, which in turn
resulted in higher wages. Businesses
wanted to encourage people to come in
and work.
- Tessa Conroy states, “One 2020 study found
that nations typically experienced a flu-related
decline in GDP near 6% from 1918-1920”
(Conroy, 2020).
- It is believed that the economy took a slight
dive not because of the number of people who
were dying but due to the sheer shock.
- People began to sell their stocks and take their
money out of banks because they were scared of
what was going to happen.
15
 How might this
book be used
effectively in the
classroom?
 Use Of Book Within The Classroom
Elementary: At the elementary level, the text would be appropriate with upper level elementary
students. The text would be an appropriate read aloud for fifth grade students in conjunction with the
following standards.
In our current pandemic, the text can be used to compare and contrast the story to a story about our current
Covid-19 pandemic to meet the standard: ELAGSE5RL9 Compare and contrast stories in the same genre
(e.g., mysteries and adventure stories) on their approaches to similar themes and topics.
Students can use the 1918 Pandemic discussed in the text to compare to the current Pandemic to meet the
standard: ELAGSE5RI3 Explain the relationships or interactions between two or more individuals, events,
ideas, or concepts in a historical, scientific, or technical text based on specific information in the text.
Students can compare the story to short historical accounts from the 1918 Spanish Influenza Pandemic to
demonstrate knowledge on the standard: ELAGSE5RI6 Analyze multiple accounts of the same event or topic,
noting important similarities and differences in the point of view they represent.
 Use Of Book Within The Middle School Classroom
Middle: At the secondary level, this text could be used in conjunction with literary analysis questions as
well as comparison with other texts about pandemics.

*Where is the conflict: person vs. person, person vs. nature, person vs. self?

*How does the author capture the reader’s interest in the lead?

*Identify what the characters say and what they think and distinguish between the two.

*Understand and identify how this literary work is organized, including devices and flashbacks.

*How do the characters change?

*How does the author use time in the story?

The book could be used to meet the standard : ELAGSE6RI9 compare and contrast one author’s presentation of
events with that of another by looking at the events surrounding the 1918 Pandemic in A Death Struck Year
with historical evidence from other sources.

Standards: ELAGSE6RI2, ELAGSE6RI9, ELAGSE6SL1

18
 Use Of Book Within The High School Classroom
As part of our flipped classroom, students will research in advance for the beginning of the unit and speak for 7-10 minutes on their topic before we
begin reading and analyzing the text. Each question below will be assigned to a team of two students. Students should provide evidence (quotes),
and/or examples for each response.

1). Round 1: Prepare on a selected topic in advance of our reading the text.

2). Round 2: After we complete the novel as a class, students will meet again with their partner and answer a). how it applies to the text, OR b). relate
it to a real event, such as a current newspaper article, using their assigned question as guidance.

These questions will all relate to the 1918 Spanish flu and the novel, in addition to the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic.

a. PTSD. Definitions, causes and treatment. As this diagnosis was unavailable in 1918, do you see signs from the text that the population might have
suffered from PTSD? Describe.

b. How did the 1918 Spanish flu move through the US military to Europe. To what degree is this movement shown in the text?

c. Mask material in the 1918 Pandemic and general acceptance of masks. Find images and share via the assigned Google Drive class folder for this
assignment. How are masks used in the text?

d. What vaccines were available in 1918-1919 and who developed and paid for them? How were they disseminated to the population? Were vaccines
used in the text and who received them? 19
 Use Of Book Within The High School Classroom
e. School in 1918 Pandemic. What worked to contain the spread at school? What was attendance like? How was attendance in the text?

f. Cruise ships in 1918-1919: What success and failures did they have aboard cruise liners with the disease?

g. Resumption of normal life. How long did it take the population to resume normal activity? What return to normalcy do you see in the
text?

h. Death rate. Where was the death rate highest in the US, and lowest, and why?

i. How does the main character say the unspeakable (deadly disease) to complete strangers in the text? What characters inform others
about the disease? How do they “speak the unspeakable?”

j. How are the two pandemics (1918 and 2020) similar and different?

k. Was their discord in the population during the pandemic with the methods used to address it? How is that similar to today?

m. What is similar and/or different about burials during 1918 versus during the COVID-19 pandemic. (If you don’t know the type of
changes that have occurred in burials since COVID-19 hit, then call a funeral home and/or burial site and interview someone who does
know.)
20
 Use Of Book Within The High School Classroom

n. What is similar and/or different about burials during 1918 versus during the COVID-19 pandemic. (If you don’t know the type
of changes that have occurred in burials since COVID-19 hit, then call a funeral home and/or burial site and interview someone
who does know.)

o. A. Go to the New York Times and look at the obituaries for the last six months, scanning for an idea of the number and
frequency of COVID-19 mentions. Go back one year, and scan the same period. What are you seeing?

B. Go to Pew Research and under Health Topics, scan for the research they are collecting during the pandemic related to
COVID-19. What can you tell us about what they are following? Do you see any central body or organization handling data in
the novel? Why would tracking this data be important?

Finally, if your question does not already address “How is what you are reading in the text similar to what is occurring today
during the pandemic?” please answer in Round Two.

SC English Standards: Standard 3: Construct knowledge, applying disciplinary concepts and tools, to build deeper understanding of the world
through exploration, collaboration, and analysis.3.1 Develop a plan of action by using appropriate discipline specific strategies. 3.2 Examine
historical, social, cultural, or political context to broaden inquiry and create questions.3.3 Gather information from a variety of primary and
21
secondary sources and evaluate for perspective, validity, and bias.3.4 Organize and categorize important information; synthesize relevant ideas to
build a deeper understanding; communicate new learning; identify implications for future inquiry
INDIVIDUAL
CRITIQUES
BIANCA MCNEAL’S
BOOK REVIEW

“ I consider this book a page

turner because it was an easy
read and relative to what is
happening in today’s society
relating to the Coronavirus. The
personal thoughts and
experiences of the main
character are similar to what
many are going through now.”

23
BOOK COMPARISON

“The Last Town on Earth” is based on a fictional

town of Commonwealth, Washington in 1918
during World War I and the Spanish Flu
Epidemic, similar to “A Death Struck Year
focusing on the same historical events. Similar
relating to events and time period but different
plots as this story focuses on the community
agreeing to quarantine from the outside world to
escape the epidemic flu. Things turn for the
worst when the son of the towns founder brings
in a soldier and everyone begins to suffer. This
would be a good book to read and have students
compare and contrast both stories events, story
plot and character traits.
24
Sara’s BOOK REVIEW

“I really enjoyed reading

this novel. The main
character was very PLACE YOUR VIDEO HERE
realistic and relatable. I
admired her bravery and
determination to help out
as many people as she
possibly could at such a
scary time.”

25
BOOK COMPARISON
“Fever 1793” by Laurie Halse Anderson is a
story set during the yellow fever epidemic of
1793. Like Cleo in “A Death-Struck Year”, the
main character, Mattie Cook, has to deal with a
major outbreak in her very own city. However,
unlike Cleo, Mattie’s family is very poor. I think
PICTURE OF BOOK
it could be interesting to have students contrast
not only the different ways these societies dealt
with a pandemic in these differing time periods,
but also to compare the way two teen girls react
to their situation according to their
socio-economic class. 26
Keri Steverson’s
BOOK REVIEW

The book is a great read PLACE YOUR VIDEO HERE

for all ages. The
characters are relatable,
especially during the
current pandemic. The
love story is a nice
addition and leaves you
wanting to read more!

27
 BOOK COMPARISON
“Deadly” by Julie Chibbaro, takes place in New
York during an outbreak of Typhoid Fever. The
protagonist, Prudence Galewski, gets a job in a
laboratory to study the cause of the disease and ends
up stepping out of the lab to truly investigate on the
front lines. Prudence is similar to Cleo Berry from
“A Death Struck Year” in that she is a young women PICTURE OF BOOK
who hopes to help people, no matter the cost to her
own life during a medical outbreak. The two texts
could be used for students to compare the two
young protagonists and the ways they step outside
of social norms to do what they know is best for the
larger population. 28
 Mary-Katherine’s
BOOK REVIEW

This book really grabs your

attention and holds it. It always PLACE YOUR VIDEO HERE
kept me wanting more.
However, the end left me feel
almost incomplete. It needed a
more dramatic ending.

29
BOOK COMPARISON

“Winnie’s War” by Jenny Moss takes place in

Texas during the 1918 Spanish Flu Pandemic. The
main character Winnie, is much like “A Death
Struck Year’s” Cleo. She has a pretty normal life
until the flu strikes her town. She steps up to the
plate and makes sure she is doing everything she
can to help. While Cleo’s focus is on helping the
people in her community, Winnie is doing making
sure her family is safe. Both characters show their
bravery in their stories and are both inspirational to
youth readers.
30
WENDY’S BOOK
REVIEW

31
WENDY’S BOOK COMPARISON
Both A Death-Struck Year and Harry Potter Goblet of Fire pit the
adolescent against insurmountable odds that would “take down”
a typical adult. In her fourth book in the series, J.K. Rowling
gives Harry a true adversary in Voldemort and his sidekick,
Wormtail--both of whom plot Harry’s demise. Where Harry must
prove himself in the Triwizard Cup Tournament--open to ages 17
and above because of the dangers inherent in the game, and
having been discontinued for 100 years due to the high death toll,
Cleo has her own battle against death and a fight against a hidden
adversary--the pandemic. Both Harry and Cleo are on their own
in this battle. There is no one to save them if they fail, and in
such extreme circumstances, it is a good thing they survive. Each
proves to themselves that they are far from ordinary.
32
Laura Apol’s Critical Questions to Ask of Children’s
Literature for the Classroom

Question #1: What does the story assume about the reader’s (your and your students’) background, beliefs,
values and experiences? Which elements of the story seem “obvious,” “natural,” “the way things are” to you
as a reader? What about your background makes these elements seem so obvious? Would everyone see them
the same way as you? Why or why not? What elements of your background, beliefs, values, experiences, and
pre-existing knowledge are brought to the forefront of your attention as you read this story? (Mary-Katherine
Howard)
Since the story is based upon a major historical event, I feel like the author is assuming that the reader
has a basic understanding of what has occurred during the time period and they are correct. When I began to
read the story and knew it set place in 1918 and then reread the title I knew we were going to be reading
about the Spanish flu. This is not a subject that I was taught in depth about in school but something that you
hear about throughout your life. This story doesn’t necessarily tap into pre-existing beliefs or values.
However, does slightly tap into a person’s experiences. To be able to sympathize with the main character, one
would almost need to know what it feels like to lose a loved one.
33
(Question 1 continued)
The elements of the story seemed very “obvious”. We knew upon reading that we were going to read
about people dying and the implications of this “flu”. The title alone indicated that this book wouldn’t be light
hearted and would have grief within. Our background knowledge of death due to a virus also made this story
very obvious. We knew that there may be uncertainty in the story for the main characters. We began to see
many relatable elements that we were able to connect with our lives. In the story, Cleo began to hear things
about the flu from here and there. Suddenly her world changed when school closed down. This is much like
our students when Covid-19 struck our states in March. It all started with stories of how bad the virus could
be and then began the closures.
It stuck out to us when Cleo left her school and started to see everyone in masks. As a group we
discussed how scary this was when we started to notice these changes in our community. We also discussed
how lucky we were that we were able to communicate with loved ones via technology. This is not something
relatable for the reader but we can see how difficult it may be. It may take days to hear about a loved one’s
status and we are lucky enough that almost everyone has a cellphone.
These are all things that our students would be able to relate to in our current world. They would be
able to predict the outcomes to this story without having prior knowledge. Due to the current outcome of our
nation’s situation they could predict things that may happen along the way.

34
Laura Apol’s Critical Questions to Ask of Children’s
Literature for the Classroom
Question #2: What happens if the identities of characters in the story are transposed? What if the racial
identities of the characters are switched? What if the genders of the characters are changed? What if the poor
and rich swapped? Would the story’s message change? (Sara Farriba)
I think it would be really interesting to see what would happen if the identity of the main characters in this story
changed because the message of the story can definitely change a bit as we change the main character’s identity.
First of all, all of our characters are white and while some minor characters were identified as being poor, they
still had access to the Red Cross services when they or a family member became sick. After looking at some historical
records, it became abundantly clear that the situation for races that were not white were much worse. Hospitals were
segregated in 1918 and it has been widely acknowledged that the care received in non-white hospitals or clinics was
much worse than they would have received in the white hospitals. I think if Cleo had not been white, her decision to
help others may have held true, but her ability and opportunity to help others would have been limited. In that same
vein, as horrific as some of the cases Cleo came across were, I imagine that the number of cases and the inability to
treat them adequately would have played a major role in the story if she had not been white.

35
(Question 2 Continued): The story’s message may have changed from simply a story about perseverance and helping
fellow man to highlighting the importance of equality or the horrors of inequality.
If Cleo had been poor instead of rich, I think she still could have helped out but she may not have been as fast
to learn or skilled at the tasks during her early days. Cleo had the benefit of a good education whereas many girls from
lower-socioeconomic backgrounds may not have been in as good of a school or for as long, potentially causing her
effectiveness to diminish. I do think it may have been harder for a poor girl to volunteer because, while Cleo didn’t
have to worry about where and how to get food to survive, people from less well off backgrounds almost certainly did.
Survival for Cleo was only about not contracting the disease. She thought nothing about the basic survival necessities
because she had money and means to get everything and anything she wanted. Someone who had less money might
have had to spend the majority of their time trying to find or work for these basic necessities and wouldn’t have had the
time to volunteer.
Finally, if Cleo had been a male, I don’t think the idea of her personal sacrifice in spite of all her obstacles
would have been as significant. Cleo, despite being wealthy and well educated, was still a woman at a time where
women were really only starting to have real options outside of the domestic world. A man at this time period could
have gotten involved in many different ways and, because of the cliches, it wouldn’t have been atypical. Men were
supposed to help and protect others. They were supposed to take risks for the betterment of society. The fact that Cleo
found a way to volunteer and continued working no matter how hard things got or how many obstacles she faced helped
to really drive home the concept of perseverance and the message of helping fellow man.

36
Laura Apol’s Critical Questions to Ask of Children’s Literature for the Classroom
Questions #3: What is the moral, the overt message, the lesson to be learned, of the story? What are the implicit lessons, the
hidden messages, the unconscious assumptions, of the story?How do these messages reflect the time and place when and
where the story was created? (Bianca McNeal)

The lesson and overall moral to be learned of the story is perseverance. Characters who never give up even during difficult
times show perseverance as the main character in “A Death Struck Year”. As a 17-year old privileged teenage girl, Cleo takes it
upon herself to go outside of her confined safe zone and decides to volunteer for the Red Cross even though she lacks medical
training she feels compelled to help. The message reflects the time and place when and where the story was created because
through this period of time not only did the main character show perseverance but the author depicted how the community,
the city, our country and people world wide had to persevere throughout this difficult time as many faced challenges through
the story by including historical information and personal experiences.
Other lessons the author conveys through the main character are having compassion and being courageous. Characters
who want to help others who are suffering are considered to be compassionate. I believe this to be one of the overt messages
throughout the text as the character’s actions throughout the plot of the story show her passion for helping others even to the
point that she was willing to risk her own life, which shows that she is courageous and conveys the trait of maturity within the
character.
An unconscious assumption a reader in today’s society could have inferred was the outcome of the scenario either being deadly
or a vague assumption that everything would be fine in the end based on what is relevant in today’s society. As we go through a
similar pandemic almost 100 years later, many may have thought of the characters actions as heroism as she was willing to risk
her own life to help others. Some may have thought the characters actions showed stupidity as she was willing to put herself at
risk instead of staying safe. Depending on perspective there are many messages conveyed throughout the story.
37
Laura Apol’s Critical Questions to Ask of Children’s Literature for the Classroom

Questions #4: What and who is missing from the story? Whose voices are silenced? What might those voices say if they
had a chance? (Wendy Blanchard-Creason)
In Makiia Lucier’s A Death Struck Year, Cleo manages to find potential love and friendship amongst disease and
death, but the characters missing from the story weigh heavily on the text. In this text, the dead parents and the
missing brother and sister-in-law create a storyline where Cleo can take great risks without fear of adults
hampering her. The book opens with the main character, Cleo, ruminating about who she’ll be when she grows
up, and the person she is discussing it with is not her mother, who is deceased, but her brother Jack, and his wife,
Lucy.
Jack is 16 years senior to Cleo. He is protective of her, and cares about her future, but they also seem to have no
idea what a seventeen-year old teenager can get up to when not under direct supervision. As they are “to be
away,” Cleo will shift from a day student to a boarder in the interim. Lucy, however, keeps the apron strings tied
by asking that Cleo phone the Fairmont San Francisco once a week to “confirm I remained in the land of the
living (p. 7).” Problem is that once Jack and Lucy vacate the story on p. 7 of the text, Cleo has little direct
contact with them until p. 265, which is nearly the end of the novel. She does send a telegram in Chapter 16, p.
186, to The Fairmont, San Francisco letting Jack know that “Mrs. Foster is home. We are both well.” Neither is
true—Mrs. Foster isn’t home and she really isn’t well as the state of the world is upside down.
38
Laura Apol’s Critical Questions to Ask of Children’s Literature for the Classroom

Questions #4 (Continued): She knows she cannot leave the school and hope to return later, as Miss Abernathy states
that “If a student leaves the grounds without permission, she will not be allowed reentry under any circumstances” (p. 38).
But she still innocently believes her brother and sister-in-law will return, as “the trains must be safe if Jack and Lucy were
coming back” (p. 42). Alas, they do not return, and she continues to live in the house that her father built and eat from the
pantry her housekeeper, Mrs. Foster, stocked, in addition to calling for a few supplies. She is protected by her family’s
standing and financial solidity, but there are no adults around her.
The book brings up a series of reminders about both her dead parents (p. 55) and her absent brother and sister-in-law (p. 55, p.
139). When referencing her parents in Chapter Six, she states “Twelve years had passed, but I still knew exactly what it was
to be an unattended case” and finds Jack’s Packard, and the testy Ford with a hand crank in the garage—the one she recalls
Jack teaching her how to drive. The memories are everywhere but that isn’t much help during the greatest crisis of her life and
indeed, of the life of the country. Cleo roams the town looking for sick and deserted children and adults, and manages to find
quite a few. She directly intervenes for the welfare of others, and some might say her very behavior makes her the adult in this
tale. I would offer that many tales such as this help students process the “what ifs” in case they are solely reliant upon
themselves. Cleo’s fortitude in the face of great adversity helps students prepare for challenges from an invisible assailant. It
is a coming of age/loss of innocence tale, and because it leaves space for Cleo to challenge herself and grow into adulthood,
perhaps it is best that the parental figures should be absent. On the other hand, were they to be present, it is doubtful that Cleo
would be pounding on doors for the Red Cross, saving families in great distress. Her safety would be tantamount, and the
adults would have to assume their place in the tale and exhibit adult-like behavior saving others. So, the silent voices are the
adults in Cleo’s family, and those voices would reel her in and force her to look, much earlier than she does, at the rashness of
her decisions
 Laura Apol’s Critical Questions to Ask of Children’s Literature for the Classroom

Question #5: How might readers from another time and place respond to the story?
What would they find inspiring, shocking, offensive? How might a reader from 100 years ago or 100 years from now respond?
How might a reader from China, India, New York City, Paris, or Darfur respond? (Keri Steverson)

The story in A Death Struck Year takes place in 1918, which is over 100 years ago. A reader 100 years ago would
probably relate to the story, due to the fact that they probably would have experienced the same Pandemic. Cleo Berry is an
average teen ager, just trying to find her way when tragedy struck where she lived. People from around the world at that time
were all experiencing the effects of the Spanish Influenza. Readers young and old would have felt the same emotions as the
characters in the story as they were unsure of the outcome of the events happening around them. 100 years ago, readers would
not be shocked by the events in the story, because they would have just lived through similar events of their own.
I can imagine young people 100 years ago, especially young girls, would have been inspired by Cleo Berry’s story and
the strong female she is portrayed as. I can imagine others, especially older men, would have been shocked and outraged by her
heroine behavior in stepping outside of her place as a young lady to defy the rules and to risk her own safety.
Readers 100 years from not will (hopefully) be shocked by just how severe the 1918 Pandemic was. Due to the current
Pandemic, readers now may be more likely to relate and understand the severity of the medical crisis occurring in the story.
Readers will probably also be shocked by the level of communication in the story. I believe many people will be inspired by
Cleo’s want to step beyond her gender roles and expectations of the time period in order to better the people around her.
The innocent courtship and timidness between Cleo Berry and Edmund Parrish may be interesting to readers 100 years
ago as well as readers from around the world. For some cultures, the same expectations to be very conservitive in relationships in
similar, where in others, relationships are formed very differently. For cultures where arranged marriages are common, the
courtship in this story may seem odd. In turn, for cultures who find relationships to be very loose and informal, the innocence 40
found in Cleo and Edmunds’s romance may be seen as odd.
Sources
“1918 Pandemic (H1N1 virus).” CDC.com.

August, M. (2020, August 11). During the 1918 Flu Pandemic, the White House Stayed Silent. Retrieved October 28, 2020, from
https://time.com/5877129/1918-pandemic-white-house/

Canales, Katie (July 2, 2020). “These surprisingly relevant vintage ads show how officials tried to convince people to wear masks after many refused during the 1918 flu
pandemic.” Business Insider. https://www.businessinsider.com/people-vintage-mask-ads-spanish-flu-1918-pandemic-2020-5

Conroy, T. (2020, April 22). What Does The 1918 Flu Reveal About The Economic Impacts Of A Pandemic? Retrieved October 22, 2020, from
https://www.wiscontext.org/what-does-1918-flu-reveal-about-economic-impacts-pandemic

French, Paul (April 4, 2020). “In the 1918 flu pandemic, not wearing a mask was illegal in some parts of America. What changed?” CNN.com.

Garrett, T. (2007, November). Economic Effects of the 1918 Influenza Pandemic: Implications for a Modern-day Pandemic. Retrieved October 20, 2022,
from https://www.stlouisfed.org/~/media/files/pdfs/community-development/research-reports/pandemic_flu_report.pdf

Lucier, M. (n.d.). Home. Retrieved October 22, 2020, from http://makiialucier.com/faq/

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 Sources
Images:

“1918 SW Broadway, Portland”, https://pdxplanning.weebly.com/world-war-days.html

“Relative Location in U.S”, https://pdxplanning.weebly.com/
“Portland Relative to Coast”, https://pdxplanning.weebly.com/
“Author Portrait”, https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/7182579.Makiia_Lucier

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