Reviews

Review By: Sarah K

The book Yellow Fever by Laurie Halse Anderson is a historical fiction book. A young teen, named Mattie, is helping to run a coffehouse with her Mother, Grandfather, Polly, and Eliza. The book takes place in Philadelphia during 1973. Everything is going fine until one day they get news of their assistant, Polly, dying. Over the course of a few days, there are many reports of people dying and rumors around Philadelphia are that its because of Yellow Fever. When Mattie's world turns upside down, she has to go through the impossible to survive the epidemic.

I really liked yellow fever. It was a really interesting book and it really showed what happened in Philadelphia during the horrible epidemic. I don't usually read historical books, but this one was really hooking and it was very hard to put down! I would give this book 4 out of 5 stars. It was an easy read and for kids/ teenagers age 10 - 16. I really liked the character Eliza. She was a very caring person and very helpful. Its the kind of person you would want to be your friend. The author did a really good job with the characters and I felt like I was there with them. There were many twists and turns in this book and I would definitley recommend it to anyone.

Review By: Kelly

Fever 1793 is about the Yellow Fever epidemic in Philadelphia during the year of 1793. The main character in the book is Matilda Cook. Matilda, also called Mattie, lives with her mom, Lucille, and grandpa, William. They run a coffeehouse together in Philadelphia. They also have a cook named Eliza. When people start dying of Yellow Fever and Mattie’s mom get it, Mattie and Grandfather move north where the air is cooler and cleaner. On the way up, Grandfather gets sick and later dies. Mattie is forced to be on her own until she finds a young girl named Nell, who is an orphan. Mattie and Nell stay together until eventually they find Eliza. Now Mattie and Nell have somewhere to stay, Eliza’s brother’s house. In the end of the story, Mattie keeps Nell, Eliza and Mattie run the coffeehouse and the fever is over. Mattie’s mom returns unexpectedly and they all live together again, but with the addition of Nell, and loss of Grandfather. Mattie learns what life and love mean in a crisis she will never forget. I liked this book because it kept me reading and wanting to know more. This book has a lot of unexpected twists that make the book more interesting. The genre of the book is historical fiction because the epidemic really happened and the characters’ thoughts and feelings are the same as, or close to, what people felt during this time in 1793.

  Review By: Lauren G

Mattie is a girl about is a fourteen year old girl that is kind of lazy and not willing to help her family. She lives with her grandfather William, her mother Lucille, and her cat Silas. They live in a house with two floors one is called the bedchamber which is upstairs and there kitchen and coffeehouse is downstairs. They have two maids/cooks that help them with the coffeehouse. One day one of them named Polly does not come to work and her family gets really worried. The others ones name is Eliza. She is very close friends with Mattie she is almost like a sister. They find out that Polly died from Yellow Fever. They think the people on the river boats gave it to them. Then everyone starts to get sick including mother. Will Mattie's family survive this deadly disease. I really enjoyed reading this book you never knew what was about to happen, or who was going to get sick next. It was very intense. The book was very knowledgeable and taught me a lot about yellow fever and the affects of it. I also liked this book because anyone could read it. It was not just for girls or just for boys. It was very gender neutral. I liked it and would recommend it to anyone. 

 Review By: Hannah H

Mattie was a normal girl in a middle class family. Her mom is a very strict, hardworking owner of a coffeehouse in Philadelphia. Helping her run the coffeehouse is a friendly cook Eliza, a free African-American. Everything is going fine for Mattie until she hears that her family's servant girl Polly died. Polly was one of Mattie's good friends. After Polly's mysterious death, people start dying by the hundreds of an epidemic of a disease called Yellow Fever. When Mattie's mother gets sik, it is the last straw for her family. She is sent to Ludington's farm out in the country, accompanied by her awesome grandfather. They are pulled over by a few doctors checking for any infected people. They think that grandpa has the disease, so they throw them out of the wagon, 10 miles from home! Grandpa was a little sick, so he needed resting. Mattie passed out from the heat, and when she woke up she was in a hospital, sick with yellow fever. Her grandpa was ok, and Mattie got better after a little while. They were driven back to Philadelphia, only to find it mostly abandoned. When Mattie and her grandpa got back to their coffeehouse, it had been robbed. Also that night two more theives came. When grandfather tries to protect Mattie, the robbers attack him and he died that night. On her way back from the burial, she finds a little girl, Nell, with no family. While struggling to take care of herself and Nell, she finds Eliza. She starts helping Eliza's family, when her two nephews get sick. They move back into the coffeehouse and everything looks hopeless until the frost comes. The frost knocks out the sickness and helps cure those infected. The twins and Nell get better, and after that things slowly get better. Mattie was reunited with her mother and Philadelphia was slowly restoring itself.

Fever 1793 is an entertaining, edge of your seat kind of book. Some things turn out differently then you would think, and that's what makes it so unpredictable. I felt it really captured what it must have been like to live during the epidemic. It was very believable. The different events in the story were awesome. Everything happened from her falling in love, to almost losing her mother. It was great and I think anyone would love it.

By: Andrea D

Mattie Cook was an average girl living in Philadelphia. She had a mother and a grandfather, and also a house maid named Eliza, who was considered family too. Mattie's mom was very strict, and an owner of a coffeehouse. She loved the coffeehouse and worked very hard every day to support her family. Eliza was a free African American, who helped around the coffeehouse. Everything is going well in Mattie's life until the unthinkable happens. Mattie's old friend named Polly died. She died from yellow fever, a horrible sickness caused by bugs. Person after person started to die, and Mattie's small town soon becomes smaller with everyone dying. Mattie and he grandfather move into a shelter where they can be safe from Yellow fever. Mattie has no clue where her mother is and begins to panic. She is stuck with her grandfather, in a sheltered home and she doesn't know what to do. The situation became worse when robbers came and robbed Mattie and grandpa and held Mattie hostage. When grandpa heard Mattie's scream, he came downstairs with a shot gun and fired at the robbers. With the back fire of the gun, he fell to the floor and the robbers attacked him. Unfortunately grandpa died. Mattie goes everywhere in search for someone to stay with in safety... and finds Eliza & Nell!!!! Mattie Eliza and Nell go back to Mattie's house, open the coffee shop back up and find Mattie's Mother.

FEVER 1783 was an interesting and fun book! I loved it a lot and it was a great book to read!