"Fever 1793" by Laurie Halse Anderson

I chose to review this book because it has won several awards and appeared this year on the 6th-8th grade list for Oregon Battle of the Books.

Fever 1793
Author: Laurie Halse Anderson
Genre: Historical Fiction
Age Level: 12+ years

SUMMARY
This historical novel is a gripping account of the 1793 yellow fever epidemic in Philadelphia. It is told from the perspective of fourteen-year-old, Mattie Cook, whose widowed mother and grandfather own a coffeehouse in the capital city. As the novel opens, Mattie wants to be treated like an adult, but isn't yet mature enough to act like one. However, she is quickly forced to handle cares beyond her age when the yellow fever strikes close to home. On her way to the countryside, where she hopes to escape the deadly disease, Mattie herself becomes ill. She is fortunate enough to survive the fever. However, when she returns to the city, which has become almost a ghost town, she faces many other hardships which test her ability to survive.

CRITIQUE

This was a very exhilarating tale based upon true events in our nation's early history. The main characters were compelling and I was emotionally invested in their well-being. I couldn't put the book down, wanting to discover what their future would hold. The only thread in the story that I found uninteresting and unnecessary was the relationship between Mattie and Nathaniel.

I predict that most young readers today would have very little conception of what an epidemic is. Before assigning this book, I would recommend teaching children about epidemics, in general, and yellow fever, in particular, in order that they might fully understand and appreciate the horrors Mattie must have experienced. In the novel, Ms. Anderson alludes to many effects of the epidemic, but with no prior knowledge, I suspect that much of this may be lost on the uninformed reader.

The bottom line is that I would highly recommend this book to readers aged 12 or older.

RATINGS
Disrespectful/Bad Attitude: Mild
Frightening/Suspenseful: Moderate
Profanity: None
Sex: None
Substance Use: None
Mature Themes: Moderate
Violence: Mild

SPECIFIC CONTENT
Disrespectful/Bad Attitude:
-Some mild disrespect and bad attitude exhibited by Mattie toward her mother at the beginning of the story. For example, she makes faces behind her back and calls her "horrid."

Frightening/Suspenseful:
-Many images of death.
-Robbers enter an unlocked window when Mattie is sleeping downstairs in the coffeehouse.

Mature Themes:
-People leave their sick family members outside to die.
-Individuals who are suspected of being infected with the fever are not allowed to enter any villages and are left at the side of the road to fend for themselves.

Violence:
-In a scene with robbers, Mattie and her grandfather are both hit and kicked. Grandfather fires a rifle at them, although no one is shot. Mattie cuts one of the robbers in the shoulder with a sword.
-Nell bites the hand of a drunken sailor who has grabbed her.