Masked Hero: How Wu Lien-teh Invented the Mask That Ended an Epidemic

Woo Liu’s great-grandfather, physician Wu Lien-teh (1879–1960), stars in a biography that focuses on its protagonist’s implementation of face masks to combat disease. A scene-setting beginning locates the story in 19th-century British colony Malaya, where Lien-teh dreams of becoming a doctor and uses what’s on hand to build makeshift sports equipment at school. He wins a scholarship that takes him to the University of Cambridge; subsequently, the doctor lands in China after facing discrimination as a person of Chinese descent. When a “terrible disease” sweeps through Northeast China, Lien-teh is asked to help. The gauze masks that the physician innovates end the outbreak, and later prove useful during the 1918 flu and as a prototype for Covid-combatting masks that “became part of everyday life.” Plain-spoken narration focuses on the chronology of Lien-teh’s life and accomplishments. Wee’s mild paintings accompany flat, unadorned backdrops against which the “masked hero” is depicted at work. A timeline and author’s note conclude. Ages 4–8. (Oct.)