Summary: In August of 1973, an epidemic of yellow fever hits Philadelphia. 14-year-old Mattie lives with her mother and grandfather above the coffeehouse they own and run, and their lives are forever changed by the plague. When her mother becomes ill, Mattie and her grandfather leave the city in the hopes of avoiding the disease. They both become ill and never make it to their final destination, but eventually they recover and return to Philadelphia. They find that Mattie’s mother has gone to try and meet them in the country, and their shop has been ransacked. When Mattie’s grandfather dies, she feels like she is truly alone in the world. By relying on her own resourcefulness and determination, as well as accepting the help of a few kind friends, Mattie is able rebuild her life.Citation: Anderson, L. H. (2000). Fever 1793. New York: Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers.
Impression: I really liked that Anderson used a first-person narrator for this book. Having Mattie tell the reader her story herself made her a very sympathetic character. (My heart broke for her when her grandfather died.) She faces hardship after hardship, and you root for her every step of the way. I also appreciated that each chapter started with a quote from a historical figure or historical publication. I felt like it added to the authenticity of the text. The book also includes an Appendix with more information on some of the subjects touched on in the text. I had never heard of Philadelphia’s yellow fever outbreak before, and reading Mattie’s story piqued my interest and made me want to know more.
Review:
Horn Book:
For fourteen-year-old Mattie Cook, the epidemic begins with the news of the sudden and unexpected death of her childhood friend Polly. It is summer 1793, and yellow fever is sweeping through Philadelphia; the death toll will reach five thousand (ten percent of the city's population) before the frost. Mattie, her mother, and grandfather run a coffeehouse on High Street, and when others flee the city, they choose to stay--until Mattie's mother is stricken. Sent away by her mother to escape contagion, Mattie tries to leave, is turned back by quarantine officers, falls ill herself, and is taken to Bush Hill, a city hospital run by the celebrated French doctor Steven Girard. Without ever being didactic, Anderson smoothly incorporates extensive research into her story, using dialogue, narration, and Mattie's own witness to depict folk remedies, debates over treatment, market shortages, the aid work done by free blacks to care for and bury the victims, the breakdown of Philadelphia society, and countless tales of sufferers and survivors. With such a wealth of historical information (nicely set forth in a highly readable appendix), it's a shame that the plot itself is less involving than the situation. While Mattie is tenacious and likable, her adventures are a series of episodes only casually related to the slender narrative arc in which she wonders if her mother has survived the fever and whether they will be reunited. Subplots concerning Mattie's own entrepreneurial ambitions and her budding romance with a painter apprenticed to the famous Peale family wait offstage until the end of the book. Still, Anderson has gone far to immerse her readers in the world of the 1793 epidemic; most will appreciate this book for its portrayal of a fascinating and terrifying time in American history.
L. Burkam, A. (2000). [Review of the book Fever 1793, by L. Anderson]. Horn Book Magazine, 76(5), 562-563. Retrieved from http://www.hbook.com/
Use in library: This book could be used in a booktalk or display featuring books about little-known events in U.S. History.
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