Fever 1793

Fever 1793
by Laurie Halse Anderson
Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers (2000)
Interest Level: Young Adult

Category: Historical Fiction
Type: Novel

Summary:
Fourteen year old Matilda's (Mattie) world turns upside down when Philadelphia experiences a yellow fever plague that kills thousands. Her mother and grandfater decide to stay while thousands of others are fleeing to safety. By the time they decide to leave, it is too late. Mattie falls to the ground with the fever after she and her grandfather try to leave town. Luckily she survives with the skilled help of the French doctors and Mrs. Flagg. When she is well enough, Mattie and her grandfather go back to town and find the coffeehouse had been burglarized and in shambles. Mattie's mother is gone as well and there is no note, they do not know if she is alive or has died from the plague.
Mattie finds a few vegetables in the overgrown garden for a modest dinner for her and her grandfather. They eat and then she takes a much needed bath and makes a pallet to sleep for the evening. That night, burglars come in the window close to where Mattie is sleeping. They are looking for anything they can sell in the city. Mattie tries to run out the back but they catch her. Her grandfather, hearing the commotion, wakes up and confronts them with his rifle. The intruders struggle for the gun and knock him to the ground, hitting his head. What happens to Mattie's grandfather? What happened to her mother? What will she do now? Read Fever 1793 for all these answers and more.

Online Connections:
1. Author website: www.writerlady.com
2. Author profile: www.teenreads.com/authors/au-anderson-laurie.asp

Book Connections:
1. An American Plague: The True and Terrifying Story of the Yellow Fever Epidemic of 1793 by Jim Murphy
2. Year of Wonders: A Novel of the Plague by Geralding Brooks

Keywords: yellow fever, plague, 1793, epidemic