Fever 1793

Young Adult Fiction by Laurie Halse Anderson

I love the YA genre. I get to pretend that I read these books on behalf of my middle school students, but the truth is that they are so refreshing. They're easy and quick reads, for one, but they are also exactly what they promise, with only the expected surprises. After reading two suspense novels, the last of which tried oh-so hard to be cool, it was nice to open a book that looked like historical fiction about yellow fever in Philadelphia in 1793 and find that's exactly what it was. It reminded me of an American Girls novel, with a sweet young narrator who is focused on boys, chores, and fun in her post-colonial world. The fact that something is wrong with that world is hinted at on the second page, and the fever strikes on page 13. It's not just young readers who like a story that gets right to the point. And, of course, this has the setting in another time and place that I love, and the satisfying ending I absolutely need. I hate to be left wondering.

I am left curious about this author, however, and feel I need to read more of her work. She has another YA book called Speak that was something of a controversy at my school's library a few years ago. Speak is about the rape of a teenager. That's all I know about it so I can't say where I land on the controversy but now I want to read the book and see.

By the way, I found this book in the young adult summer-award section at the public library. It is a GREAT source for books for teens--it's divided into two age categories and winners are picked by kids, not adults. I've liked every single one of the books I read from this list, and really loved a few.

Side note: After Fever 1791 I started a book called The Tortilla Curtain (also a find from the library, but the adult book club section).  About 20 pages into this book about a relationship between a posh California couple and Mexican immigrants, I realized something sounded off. I checked the publication date and it's 1995. No thanks. This may be a current issue still but I don't want to read someone's take on it from 16 years ago. Guess I'll just miss out on this one.