louise erdrich

tributary:

tributary:

happy smallpox eradication day to all who celebrate, which is everyone!

“On December 9, 1979, the disease was confirmed to have been eradicated, with the World Health Assembly making the declaration official five months later.”

“On May 8, 1980, more than two years after the last known case, the World Health Assembly formally declared the world free of smallpox.”

celebrate twice!

And it just so happens that we started The BIrchBark House by Louise Erdrich last week for read aloud, which opens with a devastating smallpox outbreak and I stopped reading to tell all those young ears that yes, in fact, we did that. We eradicated smallpox.

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