Fever 1793 by Laurie Halse Anderson

What do you think of when you hear a church bell ring? Maybe it reminds you of a wedding, a celebration? Maybe you think of it as marking a time of day, such as morning, noon, and night? Possibly as signaling time for worship and prayer? What if the joyful sound of the church bells weren’t so joyous? What if they began to signal death and what if they never stopped ringing? How would you feel? Would it worry or scare you or drive you crazy? For Mattie Cook and the city of Philadelphia in the late hot summer of 1793, the tolling of the church bells signified that a mysterious illness, yellow fever, had claimed another victim. At first the bells tolled once or twice per day but within weeks the bells rang constantly. Fear and panic set in as the death count climbed and cemeteries began filling up. “Bring out your dead, bring out your dead!” was the call from the streets. The rich people fled the city in an attempt to escape the outbreak and those who couldn’t leave were at the mercy of doctors who were willing to try useless and dangerous methods to rid the patient of the disease. Worried that Mattie will fall ill with the fever, her mother sends her away to the country to wait with friends. But due to quarantines in nearby towns, she never makes it and she too falls ill with the fever. Will Mattie be strong enough to make it back to Philadelphia and survive this deadly disease? Fever 1793 is based on the actual tragedy that befell the nation’s capital city.