Author: Laurie Halse Anderson
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Publishing Date: 2000
Length: 243 Pages
Summary: (from book) During the summer of 1793, Mattie Cook lives above the family coffee shop with her widowed mother and grandfather. Mattie spends her days avoiding chores and making plans to turn the family business into the finest Philadelphia has ever seen. But then the fever breaks out.
Disease sweeps the streets, destroying everything in its path and turning Mattie's world upside down. At her feverish mother's insistence, Mattie flees the city with her grandfather,. But she soon discovers that the sickness is everywhere, and Mattie must learn quickly how to survive in a city turned frantic with disease.
My Thoughts: I feel dumb for not even knowing there was a huge outbreak of Yellow Fever in late Colonial America. This book was great for telling me otherwise. I've seen this book around for a few years, but never picked it up because the cover kind of freaks me out. But I was at the library and spotted it as a quick read to help me get to my book quota for the year. I'm glad I read it.
Mattie was a likable female protagonist and her story very believable. I admired her love for her grandfather and her persistence on survival and independence.
What I learned: It taught me a lot about the innate sense we all have for survival and made me wonder what I would do in a situation like hers.
Things To Be Cautious Of: The Lord's name taken in vain I think...twice. And the nastiness of disease and how they treated it and the sick patients.
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