Nourse describes the symptoms, courses and some possible complications of common child. hood diseases, explains the workings of viruses, toxins, antibiotics and vaccines, and reminds us repeatedly that some ailments were much worse or more dangerous before antibiotics, and others, such as polio, far more common before vaccine. Sound enough as far as it goes, but Donahue's Germs Make Me Sick (1975) gives us this and more, in terms that are attuned to kids' questions.