Fever 1793

Fever 1793
Anderson, Laurie Halse

New York: Simon and Schuster Publication, 2000

Annotation: Matilda Cook doesn't get along with her mother, who expects her to work at the family Coffee House. She adores her grandfather, who gives her any chance to escape from the Coffee House. The Coffee House cook, Eliza, a free slave, attempts to reason and raise Matilda to love and respect her mother. And Nathaniel is the young man that Matilda adores and sneaks off to see from time to time. The story starts off with the Coffee House's maid dying from yellow fever. As the novel progresses, slowly Matilda is surrounded by death as she attempts to escape Philadelphia with her grandfather. Matilda's main goal is survival, which she accomplishes and loses so much, including her faith in humanity at one point. Eventually, as the epidemic clears and the city becomes a safe place to live, Matilda learns to become less skitterish and able to take charge. Her maturity brings her closeness to her mother and shows Nathaniel the kind of woman she is to be in a few years while she waits for him.

Reason for Nomination: The story presents a fairly accurate idea of a historical event. In addition, Matilda's voice reverberates that of teenagers of any time frame. I feel that I could relate to Matilda's strong dislike of chores, her inability to relate to her mother and the she steady crush on Nathaniel. In addition, as a reader I was exposed to the horrible conditions and the kind of people that took advantage of the fever. I cheered Matilda on from the start and new that as she changed in the novel for the better she would turn out to be a great partner of the Coffee House.

Genre: Historical/Extra Credit