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Summary: Fever 1793
Review: Fourteen year old Mattie has big plans for her life in Phiadelphia, the capital of the new United States. These plans are quickly abandoned when the devastation of the yellow fever hits home. Thousands of people flee the city, leaving those who are still residing there feel very alone and filled with fear. Now, her first priorities are to help keep her mother and grandfather healthy and to overcome the vicious plague herself.
This novel does a wonderful job of re-creating the panic felt in Phiadelphia in 1793. "I rubbed my eyes, trying to sort out where the nightmare stopped and the waking world began." The characters are written in a very believeable mannor causing the reader to become empthetic with them. This story is not only incredibly entertaining, but it is also an educational piece of children's literature. I would highly recommend this book for teachers to cover the topics of early/colonial America and the yellow fever. It also has the themes of courage and bravery embeded in it. I recommend this book for anybody who is interested in historical fiction and/or just a plain old good book!
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Summary: Experience the Fever!
Review: Fever 1793 by Laurie Halse Anderson is a great historical fiction novel for upper elementary students to read. Told from the viewpoint of Mattie, a teenage girl who lives with her mother and grandfather in the family's coffeehouse, this novel has the reader travel back in time to the year 1793. Mattie's voice carries the reader through a suspenseful story of the yellow fever epidemic in Philadelphia. The characters and setting are very lifelike and accurate for the time period of this book. Mattie and her family struggle to overcome the yellow fever in and around their coffeehouse. The suspenseful plot keeps the reader's mind focused on whether Mattie will be able to maintain her courage to survive the raging fever to reunite with her mother, who is struggling to recover from the fever. The plot evolves one day at a time to give the reader an accurate account of life during the yellow fever epidemic of 1793. I recommend Fever 1793 by Laurie Halse Anderson to children above the age of ten who enjoy reading serious, suspenseful novels. The theme of courage prevails as Mattie struggles to survive through a very difficult situation. This novel pulls the reader in from the very beginning and does not allow the reader to put the book down until the final page. Fever 1793 is also a great novel for children who are learning about yellow fever and other fatal epidemics of the past. Anderson makes Fever 1793 rich in historical content by giving an accurate account of the fever in 1793. I encourage not only children, but people of all ages, to pick up Fever 1793 by Laurie Halse Anderson and experience the fever!
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Summary: Fever 1793
Review: What happened in the year of 1793? It is a good question that can only be answered by sixteen year old Matilda Cook from Philadelphia. In this particular summer, an epidemic of Yellow Fever works its way into helpless citizens of this growing community. As young Matilda and her mother are busy in their coffeehouse, fever awaits. It's a hot and sweltering day. The sun beats upon helpless victims of the Yellow Fever while Matilda is inside her family's business, the coffeehouse. Matilda is tired of her mother, and Eliza, the servant, of bossing her about. As she waits on customers, her grandfather watches her every move like a sergeant. When the fever hit, Mattie and her grandfather were sent away to another town to avoid the infected mother. Something was terribly wrong. The streets were littered with dead corpses of the young and old. Death wagons creaked along the city streets gradually cleaning up as best as possible. Sooner or later she would have to get to her mother. Grandfather was declining in health and she would soon be alone. Something inside of Mattie made determination grow every minute. During the story, Matilda conquers her fears with self 'guided motivations. When she was on her own, there was a strong sense of personal thrust challenging the question of what to do next. Those little words pushed Mattie to extreme limits, emotionally and physically. In the novel Matilda's motivations lead to developing character and a personality. The race was on. She herself was being consumed by the fever. What was happening? Was she going to live? There was only but as few frugal vegetables left within the entire house. Farmers refused to sell, people were moving, and grandfather died. Was this a nightmare? She felt alone, without anyone by her side. Days later, she discovered her servant, Eliza. Eliza was also in search of her as well. She welcomed Mattie into her home. Eliza's children were sick with the fever as well as their father, Eliza's brother. For days and weeks on end, the small house logged with the stench of fever. Winter was coming soon and the fever should reside. So they hoped. Matilda was worried with the sense that her mother could be dead or alive. She did not know. When winter finally came, frost showed victory for the ones who lived through the crisis. Mattie and the children sprang around the yard like it was the end of war. In a way it was. Will she ever find her mother at last? Is the Yellow Fever going to keep its presence in the growing city? What is to come?
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Summary: ...
Review: Fever 1793 has a plot that contains a subtle dramatic question for the reader. Will Mattie and her family survive the yellow fever? Mattie is a character that is unique and believable, and the reader can relate to her because she is only a young girl in a very rapidly changing environment. The vocabulary used reflects the time period in which this novel takes place. The pacing and style are appropriate to the content and the sentence length is varied.
The theme of Fever 1793 is overcoming hardships due to unnatural circumstances. It shows the will to survive when the future looks dim and uncertain. This novel would appeal to someone who enjoys reading history fiction books and learning how common folk overcome an epidemic. Fever 1793 could be used in the classroom to introduce the students to the outbreak of yellow fever and how people lived during that time period.
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Summary: Well-Researched, Historical Fiction
Review: This book is about when the yellow fever broke out in the city of Philadelphia, in the late 1700's. Everyone wants to flee the city to the countryside to try to avoid becoming infected with the illness. The main character, Matilda Cook, helps out around the coffeehouse that her mom and grandfather own. Her grandfather is very kind and protective. "Mattie's" mother is a very "strong" person, but also very stubborn. One event that happened in this book is that the mother Lucille Cook became ill with the fever. To avoid becoming sick, Mattie and her grandfather must make many decisions.
"The Fever 1793" is a historical fiction type book, and a very good one at that. This book hit very close to home for me. Literally. Being from the Philadelphia area, I hadn't realized how much of an epidemic the yellow fever actual was. "5,000 people, or 10% of the city's population had died-- in three months." That was quite a shock to me. The book is quite successful in making you feel like you're right smack in the middle of this horrible tragedy. The town, which has few people remaining in it because of exile and death, has so many people to bury... "You can't just toss him in there like a sack of potatoes," Mattie said. "Where's the minister? You're not supossed to bury people without prayers."... "The minister will come by later today and pray for all the dead, Miss. There are so many people alive who need tending to, the dead will have to wait their turn. I'm sure God will understand. Now please, Miss, let us get on with this work." That was the middle of a conversation about Mattie's grandfather being buried. Obviously, this book can have quite an impact on the reader.
There is quite a cast of characters in this book, but we definitely get the deepest insight about the main character, Matilda Cook. Though very mature and intelligent from the start of the book, we come to see a great change in this girl. After all that Matilda has been through (which was quite a lot), the "first frost" finally arrives, and the epidemic ends. You can see how her sufferings have changed her into a very strong, capable young woman. You feel very confident that this "seemingly" young child will have no problem managing her family's business on her own. You really do feel bonded with her character, whether you are male or female. The book really makes you understand what a devastated effect a tragedy of this proportion can have on people. Yet, it also points out the possble positive that can come out of it, which is something you HAVE to look at and aim for if you've been through something like this.
To make the cliche statement, YES, it is very hard to put this book down. It is a about a factual thing that happened a little more than 200 years ago, and even though the story is fictional, it is very believable. It is probably mirroring what hundereds, if not thousands of families and individuals have gone through. There are some fairly graphic descriptive scenes in the book that really show the horror of the yellow fever epidemic. In saying this, I would be a little cautious with young elementary school students. Besides that, I would recommend this book to practically anyone. It reads very smoothly. This book is about an event that really happened. Be enthralled, entertained, and educated at the same time. I was.
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Summary: Review of Fever 1793
Review: Fever 1793 is the latest book by the author of the well received Speak. Laurie Halse Anderson has written a historically accurate story about an outbreak of Yellow fever in Philadelphia in 1793. The epidemic killed 10% of the poplution of Philadelphia, the United States' largest city at the time. The story is told through the eyes of Mattie, a teenage girl living with her grandfather and widowed mother who own and run a coffeehouse with the help of a freed slave, Eliza. Everyone is affected by the horrible disease, there is no escape and Mattie must come to terms with the devastating reality of the time. Fever 1793 is well written and well researched. In a section at the end of the book Anderson gives the reader the facts about the epidemic, the treatment, the social atmopsphere and various other issues touched upon in the novel. I really enjoyed reading this book. Mattie could be a teenager living today. She wants to sleep in, roam the town, hang out with her friends, anything but stay at the coffeehouse and have her mother order her around and criticize her. The characters where interesting and realistic and the suspense of the plot kept me wanting to read more.
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Summary: Fever 1793 through the eyes of a child.
Review: Fever 1793 By: Laurie H. Anderson Augest 1793. Mattie Cook is a adventurous fourteen-year-old girl that is sick to death of listening to her nagging mother. Mattie wants to turn the Cook Coffeehouse into the best business in Philadelphia, the capital of the new United States. "Fever" spreads from the river docks and creeps toward Mattie's home threatening every one she holds dear. As the cementeries fill with fever victims, thousands flee the city with panic. Tragedy strikes the coffeehouse and Mattie is trapped inside a living nightmare. She struggles to build a better life, until something more important comes along--the fight to stay alive. I liked the book because as I read, it was as if the book was pulling me into the chapters. When a book does that, I feel that I understand it more.
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Summary: Another great book
Review: Another great book written by favorite author Laurie Halse Anderson. At first I thought I wouldn't be able to get into this book but once I started reading I couldn't put it down. It gets on edge when you read what Matilda goes through and her struggle to survive and fight against the deadly fever that swept throughout Philadelphia. A very good book.
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Summary: Sterling Middle School's Lunch Bunch Book Club
Review: Students and staff meet twice a month to read and discuss books that are part of the Virginia Young Reader's Program. Fever 1793 was well received. It is a historically accurate book. It is timely since this fall there were cases of West Nile Virus. I would strongly recommend reading this book to middle school students, as well as adults. Mrs. McGuire While reading the book Fever 1793 , I noticed that the color yellow was mentioned many times. There was a yellow hot air balloon, the flowers had yellow centers, the cat was yellow, as well as the rich girl's dress and the book ended with yellow. Lisa M Fever 1793 was a book of hope and courage, a road to a new beginning. The book was an inspiring story for all ages. Darny C When you start reading Fever 1793 you cannot put it down. Even when your favorite TV show is on, you will keep reading. I really enjoyed the book. The color yellow is mentioned throughout the book, I think 5 or 6 times.
Fauzia N. Fever 1793 is a better book than most of the books out there for adults.
Mrs. Whittington
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Summary: Absolutely Wonderful!
Review: This is one of the two best books I've ever read - I absolutely could not put it down! The main character is Mattie Cook, a 14 year old girl who lives in Philadelphia, and her hardest struggle is dealing with her mother. When the Yellow Fever strikes Philadelphia, Mattie's life turns upside down. She must leave Philadelphia, and is torn between many things. It was a very moving, and very realistic story - I highly recommend this book to anyone of any age.
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