It’s the summer of 1793 in Philadelphia, and Mattie Cook has big plans for the family coffeehouse.Her mother has big plans of marrying Mattie off into a wealthy family, but Mattie has her eye on a young man of her own.Fever is spreading throughout Philadelphia and is reaching into Mattie’s world.Imagine the carts rolling through the city streets in search of the dead.Imagine the fear of not knowing how the fever spreads and what can be done for those who fall ill. The kaleidoscope of society swirls and shifts as the population of Philadelphia falters and turns to the hands of those they have previously enslaved.Mattie is about to lose much of what she knows and will need to find strength in herself and friends to survive and eventually thrive.
270 pages
978-0689848919 Ages 10-14
Book Pairing: Pair this book with An American Plague: The True and Terrifying Story of the Yellow Fever by Jim Murphy (contributed by Tricia-Stohr Hunt)
Recommended by: Barb Langridge, abookandahug.com
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An epidemic of fever sweeps through the streets of 1793 Philadelphia in this novel from Laurie Halse Anderson where "the plot rages like the epidemic itself" (The New York Times Book Review).
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.--from the publisher
