Fever 1793

palindrome - Fever 1793 brings the terrible yellow fever to life with a plotline full of sadness, violence, terror; the story of Matilda "Mattie" Cook. Any student who loves to learn about history will appreciate the full story of this book, but viewing as strictly an education historical fiction is not doing its suspenseful, action-packed, amazing story justice. This book has so much excitement, emotion, and adrenaline-pumping action that even a history-hating reluctant reader will devour the story. I love Fever 1793 because it lets the reader see the yellow fever outbreak in a new incarnation. Even if you're already familiar with this historical event, reading Fever 1793 will let you hear the events you know in a new, exciting, interesting way. This book, narrated in the first person by Mattie, the protagonist, makes the reader feel as though her or she personally knows the struggles of a child or teen living during the yellow fever outbreak. It gives a glimpse into the devouring fears, nightmarish scenes, and body-filled, filthy streets of some places in America in 1793. The reader will be left with lingering, longing desires to read this book again and again. If you enjoy books that are gripping, realistic, bloody, emotional, and nightmarish like I do, you will thoroughly enjoy your reading of Fever 1793. Even if violence or disease scares you, I encourage you to try reading Fever 1793. It has a value in both interesting and educational departments, and I think it could be enjoyed by any reader at all.

March 4, 2002
PW
called this ambitious novel about the yellow fever epidemic that ravaged 18th-century Philadelphia "extremely well researched. However, larger scale views take precedence over the kind of intimate scenes that Anderson crafted so masterfully in Speak." Ages 10-up.

September 4, 2000
The opening scene of Anderson's ambitious novel about the yellow fever epidemic that ravaged Philadelphia in the late 18th century shows a hint of the gallows humor and insight of her previous novel, Speak. Sixteen-year-old Matilda "Mattie" Cook awakens in the sweltering summer heat on August 16th, 1793, to her mother's command to rouse and with a mosquito buzzing in her ear. She shoos her cat from her mother's favorite quilt and thinks to herself, "I had just saved her precious quilt from disaster, but would she appreciate it? Of course not." Mattie's wit again shines through several chapters later during a visit to her wealthy neighbors' house, the Ogilvies. Having refused to let their serving girl, Eliza, coif her for the occasion, Mattie regrets it as soon as she lays eyes on the Ogilvie sisters, who wear matching bombazine gowns, curly hair piled high on their heads ("I should have let Eliza curl my hair. Dash it all"). But thereafter, Mattie's character development, as well as those of her grandfather and widowed mother, takes a back seat to the historical details of Philadelphia and environs. Extremely well researched, Anderson's novel paints a vivid picture of the seedy waterfront, the devastation the disease wreaks on a once thriving city, and the bitterness of neighbor toward neighbor as those suspected of infection are physically cast aside. However, these larger scale views take precedence over the kind of intimate scenes that Anderson crafted so masterfully in Speak. Scenes of historical significance, such as George Washington returning to Philadelphia, then the nation's capital, to signify the end of the epidemic are delivered with more impact than scenes of great personal significance to Mattie. Ages 10-14.