Fever By Laurie Halse Anderson Summary

The novel, Fever, written by Laurie Halse Anderson, tells the story of a young girl named Matilda. She grows up in the bustling city of Philadelphia during 1793, a time in which yellow fever is running rampant. Matilda lives above a coffeehouse with her mother, grandfather, and a feisty orange cat, named Silas. The coffeehouse shop her family runs soon becomes tainted with pestilence after her mother is taken ill. Matilda finds herself living in contentment one moment and fearing to live the next. At 14 she is a levelheaded thinker. Matilda learns the value of what she once took for granted along with the importance of family. She finds herself growing up much sooner than expected as she faces great loss and suffering. The story follows Matilda

Everyday the heat climbs, but today I can feel the sun pierce my skin. Talk of yellow fever is spreading, I do not know what to think anymore. The disease gets its name from the yellowed eyes and skin of the victims. Symptoms include fever, headache, and black vomit caused by bleeding into the stomach. Mother wants to send me away to the country, to breath fresh air. Meanwhile, grandfather thinks it is all nonsense. “We are all going to be fine, this is just a pesky summer bug,” he says. All I know is I am getting anxious and this heat is not helping. I will never complain of being cold again. How I would love to feel the winter breeze. My home is Philadelphia. It is United States capital city founded by William Penn. It is no longer a place I want to be, this city is full of death, destruction, and grief. I have heard some neighbors already are leaving the city in fear of the fever. There are more people getting sick. I miss my friend Polly, her voice, seeing her downstairs in the kitchen, her laugh. She did not deserve it, she died too young. If the fever is what really took her, I fear who is

Mother is alive and home. Eliza and I made it through the dark times. Between August and November, approximately 11,000 people contracted yellow fever here in Philadelphia. Of that large majority, 5,000 people, or ten percent of the city’s population died. In total 17,000 people, including our very own President Washington fled to the countryside. Of those left we are all at great losses. The bodies of loved ones were scattered, including grandfather’s. Families are left broken. The air is finally clear but our hearts still ache, our souls still mourn. No doubt our city has much healing left, but so far I see a light at the end of a long and hard journey. I know now of great grief but it has strengthened me. I hope only for a new future in which all of us may live to see Philidelphia, our home, safe and from