“Fever, 1793” by Laurie Halse Anderson.
Simon and Schuster Books for Young Readers, New York, 251 pages, Grades 5-7.
The COVID-19 pandemic threw the entire world into a panic. It struck unexpectedly and countries were not prepared to respond to an unknown illness of this magnitude. Government officials gave conflicting information and people were at a loss to know how to react.
Eventually, treatments became available and the pandemic was contained. But what if no science had been available to fight COVID-19? What would people do then?
This is exactly the case when the Yellow Fever Epidemic strikes Philadelphia in 1793. Within weeks, Philadelphia turns from the City of Brotherly Love into a frightened disaster where everyone tries to stay alive. The rich flee to avoid the pestilence but many poorer people do not have this opportunity. Laurie Halse Anderson dramatically portrays this deadly and disastrous time in her outstanding novel, “Fever, 1793.”
The summer is brutally hot and the Philadelphia populace suffer under a baking sun. All look forward to the cooling weather of fall. People start becoming ill with a strange fever. Most don’t worry because there have been fevers frequently in Philadelphia. This fever seems far worse than others. People start dying at an alarming rate.
Doctors are quickly called in to help the ill. Some prescribe the normal cures: blood-letting, and the swallowing of mercury. Blood-letting supposedly drained the body of pestilence and mercury made the people vomit the poisons. The treatments kill many.
Fourteen-year-old Mattie Cook is roused out of bed by her stern mother to begin working in the family coffee house. Mattie hears of the outbreak but doesn’t know what to make of it. However, her friend Polly dies from the fever, causing Mattie’s world to turn upside down.
Within days, people are dying throughout the city. No one knows how to stop the fever. Thinking the air is poisoned, the rich quickly leave the city to go to “the fresh air of the country.” Mattie’s mother comes down with the fever and is near death.
When the family runs short on food, Mattie goes into the city market. There is no food. A death cart is now pushed up and down the streets with the workman shouting: “Bring out your dead!” When Mattie returns home, she sees her mother in the death cart. She tells the death crier to take her mother, still alive, out of the cart. He unceremoniously dumps the near-dead woman on the street and moves on.
Now, 14-year-old Mattie, with a fever-stricken mother and no money, must somehow save her family. How does she do it?
How can such a young girl find the needed strength in this horrible situation? Who helps her find a solution? How does the author brilliantly show the heights and depths of the human nature during this disaster? To find the answers to these and other questions, go to the library and check out this outstanding novel, “Fever, 1793” by Laurie Halse Anderson.
The writing and character development in this novel is superb. We see this young girl, Mattie Cook, acting with heroism and charity throughout the story. Other brave organizations, such as the Free African Society, put their lives at risk to save others.
This is a gripping tale that will hold the interests of middle school students. Readers of all ages will find it compelling as well. I hope you get a chance to read this novel. It is a dramatic retelling of a panic-stricken time in the city of Philadelphia.
