Thursday, November 14, 2013

Book Review-Fever 1793





Audio books are a wonderful invention.  You can listen to a book while doing something that may not require your whole attention, like housework or exercising.  I've recenlty started walking during my lunch hours, so naturally I decided to "read" at the same time by listening to an audiobook through our Overdrive collection.
I decided to read Fever, 1793 a fictionalized account of the yellow fever outbreak in Philadelphia in 1793.  It is actually a Young Adult novel with a teenaged protaganist.  I thought it was fascinating.  The story is told by Mattie Cook, a 14 year old whose mother runs a coffee house.  The author goes into a lot of detail of how people lived in 1793 Philadelphia, in addition to the yellow fever outbreak itself.  I was interested enough that I looked it up to see how much was actual history vs fiction, and was pleasantly surprised at how much was fact.  It was also interesting to learn that although we now know what causes yellow fever (spread through mosquitios) there is still no cure.
This is a great book if you like colonial settings, stories told from a younger person's perspective, stories about how natural disasters affect people, or historical fiction in general.  Because it is a young adult book it is a bit shorter than adult books and is less graphic.  A very enjoyable book.

Fever 1793
Fever 1793
By Anderson, Laurie Halse
2002-03 - Aladdin Paperbacks
9780689848919 Check Our Catalog


In 1793 the Cook Coffeehouse outside of Philadelphia is a haven for those fleeing from the fever sweeping across the mosquito-infested city. Fourteen-year-old Mattie Cook loses her childhood playmate to the fever and struggles to keep her family and its business alive.
HPL patron:  In this book the main character, Mattie, has to grow up and learn how to be a woman at an early age while the Yellow Fever creeps closer to her home.  It is a very good book.
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Other books by the same author.
Catalyst
Catalyst
By Anderson, Laurie Halse
2003-09 - Speak
9780142400012 Check Our Catalog

From the author of "Speak" comes a novel that confronts the conundrum of young adult life. Kate manages her life by organizing it as logically as the periodic table. She can handle it all--or so she thinks. Then things dramatically change. …More


Speak
Speak
By Anderson, Laurie Halse
2011-05 - Square Fish
9780312674397 Check Our Catalog

In this powerful novel, a teenage heroine delivers a blow to the hypocritical world of high school. …More


Chains
Chains
By Anderson, Laurie Halse
2010-01 - Atheneum Books
9781416905868 Check Our Catalog

A National Book Award finalist. At the start of the Revolutionary War, Isabelis sold to a cruel loyalist family, even though she has been promised freedomby her former owner. Soon faced with the choice of working for or against theBritish, Isabel chooses to work with anyone who can help her. 5 1/8 x7 5/8. …More


Complimentary Reads
A Doctor Like Papa
A Doctor Like Papa
By Kinsey-Warnock, Natalie
Illustrator Bernardin, James
2002-05 - HarperCollins
9780060293192 Check Our Catalog

Margaret holds tight to her dream of becoming a doctor just like her papa--a career that is no easy feat for a girl in early 20th-century Vermont. When a terrible virus breaks out, it's suddenly up to her to make the right choice. Illustrations. …More


Graveyard Girl
Graveyard Girl
By Myers, Anna
2001-03 - Turtleback Books
9780613359542 Check Our Catalog

-- Sequoyah Childrens Book Award, Masterlist
-- American Bookseller, "Pick of the Lists", 1995

"A grim historical moment has been effectively used by the author to show the ability of the human spirit to endure, survive, and renew itself". -- SLJ. "A harrowing tale of loss and redemption". -- KR. 1995. …More


Good-Bye Billy Radish
Good-Bye Billy Radish
By Skurzynski, Gloria
1996-10 - Turtleback Books
9780613004701 Check Our Catalog

This is the poignant story of the friendship between two boys, Hank Kerner and Bazyli Radichevych, called Billy Radish, set in the steel town of Canaan, Pennsylvania, in 1917. Thge boys are very different, for while Hank considers himself all-American, Billy is a Ukrainian immigrant straddling two cultures. As World War I rages overseas, both boys are faced with some difficult questions. …More

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