Fever+1793

Summary: This story is set in Philadelphia in 1793 around the same time as the Yellow Fever outbreak. Matilda is a 14 year old girl who lives with her mother and grandfather. Her grandfather is a veteran of the Revolutionary War. Matilda also lives with Eliza who is a freed slave who works as their cook in the coffee shop that Matilda's mother and grandfather own. When the Yellow Fever outbreak occurred people either fled from the city or died. Once the outbreak hit Philadelphia Matilda realizes she must fight not only for her life but the ones she loves also. The people close to Matilda are dying. First, many of her neighbors are infected, then her childhood friends, including Polly, their serving girl, then her mother. She and her grandfather try to flee to a family friend's home in the country, but they are left behind because of guards patrolling the path. (They kept the sick out of other cities, and thought her grandfather ill because of his cough.) Matilda falls ill with the fever and is taken to a hospital by her grandfather. They return to their house, to discover it was robbed by thieves. The next night, men broke in while Matilda was sleeping. She had screamed, which woke her grandfather up. Grandfather tries to save Mattie, and ends up being killed when he flies back toward the stairs after shooting an old rifle at the thieves. After this, Matilda is desperate and searches for Eliza, finding Nell, another fever orphan along the way. Finding Eliza, Matilda recuperates with her family for a while. Eliza's two nephews and Nell become infected with yellow fever. Matilda and Eliza take them to the Cook Coffeehouse, but available medicines have little effect. Frost kills the mosquitoes and ends the epidemic. Near the end of the book, Lucille comes back with the President. She is well but needs to take naps and take care of her health. At the end of the book, Matilda decides to take up a new job, as owner of the coffeehouse with Eliza, and life returns to normal in Philadelphia. T-T

Critique: This book is good for the middle school ages to read. This novel is great for teachers to use during social studies lessons and to have students do literacy circles with. Some of the different subjects and skills that this book could help students with are: Literature, Compare and Contrast, Drawing Conclusions, Main Idea and Details, Making Inferences, Plot, Character and Setting, Reading Response, Literature, Writing Process, Expository Writing, Literary Response, Germs and Microbes, Science Through Literature, Colonial America, Jobs, Careers and Work, Historic Documents, Social Studies Through Literature, People, Places, and Environments Compare and Contrast, Drawing Conclusions, Main Idea and Details, Making Inferences, Plot, Character and Setting, Science, Social Studies, Expository Writing Overall this book is a very good book to help students become engaged in social studies but to also help them with some of their skills they need in reading and writing.
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Social Studies


 * This book can help students learn more about the Yellow Fever Epidemic that occurred in Philadelphia is 1793. Along with learning about the Yellow Fever epidemic the students can also learn about the history of Philadelphia.

English


 * For English students can use this book for literary circles. Literary circles can help students work on their prediction strategies and also help students to work on their reading comprehension skills. Students can also compare and contrast on how they might have done things differently is they had been in Matilda's shoes.