Module 10: Historical Fiction

“What did it feel like to die? Was it a peaceful sleep? Some thought it was full of either trumpet-blowing angels or angry devils. Perhaps I was already dead.” 

― Fever 1793, Laurie Halse Anderson

Book Summary:

It's late summer 1793, and the streets of Philadelphia are abuzz with mosquitoes and rumors of fever. Down near the docks, many have taken ill, and the fatalities are mounting. Now they include Polly, the serving girl at the Cook Coffeehouse. But fourteen-year-old Mattie Cook doesn't get a moment to mourn the passing of her childhood playmate. New customers have overrun her family's coffee shop, located far from the mosquito-infested river, and Mattie's concerns of fever are all but overshadowed by dreams of growing her family's small business into a thriving enterprise. But when the fever begins to strike closer to home, Mattie's struggle to build a new life must give way to a new fight-the-fight to stay alive.

Reference: Anderson, L. H. (2002). Fever 1793. New York, N.Y. Simon & Shuster.

Impressions: 
This book shows how historical fiction can be written about an actual event in history but uses fictional characters.
A beautifully written book about a time in history that I had never learned about. This story has several colorful characters and lots of detail about the time in history. The depth of research and the settings made me feel like I was there and could imagine every detail. There were some tears, and I cheered with Mattie when she finally made it through her horrible ordeal. It gave me some things to think about in our time, and I wanted to know more about the story and how yellow fever affected the world.

Someday I hope my daughter will read this book to understand what it was like in the past for girls her age. It should give students a glimpse of the past and so many things to be thankful for that we have now. This book is an excellent read for teaching how single decisions can have an impact that change the world. In this case, doctors began to understand how germs work and what can be used to keep others from getting the same illness. Although it would take many more decades before doctors began to utilize some of those lessons and teach the public about hygiene and sanitizing.

Professional Review:
Mattie Cook, a spirited 14-year-old girl, lives with her widowed mother who manages a coffee house during the late 1700's in Philadelphia, the nation's capital. During August of 1793, yellow fever engulfs the city. Mattie must make decisions that affect herself, Eliza, a free black widow and friend, her grandfather, and an orphaned girl, Nell. This coming of age novel by Laurie Halse Anderson (S&S, 2000) gives a full-bodied aroma to the life of the markets, docks, printing houses, artists and upper-class lifestyles and adds multicultural flavor with monies exchanged such as pence from Massachusetts, shillings from Virginia, British pounds, and French francs. While the book itself is exciting and informative, especially with the closing comments on the Free African Society of 1787, coffee houses of the 1790's, and synopses of yellow fever and "Moving the U.S. Capitol," the narration by actress Emily Bergl does not enrich it. The lack of variation of intensity and tone in the reader's voice makes it difficult to distinguish between narration and dialogue. Despite the range of foreign, ethnic, and varying classes of characters, the voices are not clearly distinguishable, even among the most prevalent ones. The pauses between dialogue and "she said" or "he said" cause a staccato rhythm and make this reading less than the first rate.

Tina Hudak, St. Bernard's School, Riverdale, MA. Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

Hudak, T. (2001) [Review for the book Fever 1793 By Laurie Halse Anderson] Cahners Business Information. Retrieved from http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0689848919?ie=UTF8&isInIframe=0&n=283155&ref_=dp_proddesc_0&s=books&showDetailProductDesc=1#product-description_feature_div

Library Uses: A great novel that can be used as a book talk to tell kids and others about some of the diseases in the past and what modern medicine has done to protect us. This book could be highlighted with several other books as a display about modern medicine. Little known facts about the origins of medicine could be put on board and books about why those changes came about. For example, yellow fever was one of the reasons doctors began to understand the important of hygiene and cross contamination and germs from other sick people. All these facts could be out on a bulletin board with some of the stories behind those discoveries.