A Wrinkle in Time

L’Engle, Madeleine. A Wrinkle in Time. Bantam Doubleday Books for Young Readers, New York, 1962. 211 pages.  Tr. Pbk. $6.50 ISBN 0440498058

Plot Description:

It has been over a year since Meg’s father disappeared while experimenting with the fifth dimension of time travel.  Meg’s life takes a drastic turn late one night when Meg, her mother, and younger brother Charles Wallace receive an unexpected visitor, Mrs. Whatsit who mysteriously confirms the existence of the tesseract.  Meg has no idea what a tesseract is, but her mother seems visibly shaken by the stranger’s confirmation of the tesseract’s existence.  Only Charles Wallace is unfazed by Mrs. Whatsit’s visit, having already met Mrs. Whatsit and her friends Mrs. Who and Mrs. Which.  Soon Meg, her friend Calvin and Charles Wallace will learn exactly what a tesseract is as they undertake a journey through time and space with the help of Mrs. Whatsit, Mrs. Who, and Mrs. Which, to rescue Meg’s father and the universe from an unspeakable evil.

Review:

A Wrinkle in Time is Madeleine L’Engle’s elegantly written and imaginative, classic novel that continues to resonate with readers fifty years after it was first published.  Readers will find A Wrinkle in Time to be an inventive and challenging adventure.  Meg and Charles Wallace are both faced with the obstacle of being different from their peers and both handle that difficulty very differently; Meg lashing out violently towards her peer, while Charles Wallace ignores the naysayers.  Besides the topic of being different, L’Engle also tackles the topic of family and what it really means to love someone. 

Genre:

Science Fiction

Reading Level/Interest Level:

Grades 5-6/Grades 5-10

Similar Books:

When You Reach Me by Rebecca Stead

Awards/Honors:

Newberry Award 1963

Author’s Website:

http://www.madeleinelengle.com/

The Higher Power of Lucky

Patron, Susan. The Higher Power of Lucky. 2006. Atheneum Books for Young Readers, 134 pages. $16.95 ISBN: 1416901949

Plot Summary:

Ten year old Lucky lives in the small town of Hardpan, California (population 43) with her guardian Brigitte. When Lucky's mother was killed two years earlier, Lucky's father's first wife, Brigitte, moved from France to take care of Lucky. Lucky works sweeping up after the meetings in the town hall and spends the time during the meetings listening to the members’ stories about how they found their higher power. Lucky wonders how she will find her higher power someday. After Lucky finds Brigitte's passport and suitcase she is worried that Brigitte is leaving her to go back to France. Lucky decides to run away since Brigitte is leaving anyway. She packs up all her survival supplies and the urn with her mother's ashes and sets out into the desert in the midst of a dangerous dust storm.

Review:

Lucky is a lovable and spunky girl. Your heart cannot help but break for her to be so young, abandoned by her father and her mother dead. Lucky is scared that Brigette will leave her too. This is a heartwarming story about love in an unconventional family. The Higher Power of Lucky is really about Lucky’s struggle with her grief over her mother’s death and her fear of being abandoned. Lucky needs to learn how to let go and trust again.

Genre:

Realistic contemporary fiction

Reading Level/Interest Level:

4th to 7^th Grades

Similar Books:

Savvy

Awards:

Newberry Award 2007

ALA Notable Book 2007

Author’s Website:

http://susanpatron.com/

The Mark of Athena

Riordan, Rick. The Mark of Athena. Disney Hyperion Books, New York, 2012. 586 pages.  Tr. $19.99 ISBN 9781423140603

Plot Description:

The Mark of Athena begins as Annabeth and Percy are reunited at last, after months of separation thanks to the meddling of Hera/Juno.  Annabeth along with fellow demigods, Piper, Leo, and Jason, arrives in New Rome in the Argo II, a flying ship with a fire breathing, bronze, dragon figurehead.  The Romans perceive the Greeks as a threat and the Greeks barely have time to explain that the Greeks and Romans must join forces if they are to defeat Gaia’s minions and prevent her from awakening.  Percy and the Roman demigods, Hazel and Frank join the quest as the rest of the Romans drive the Argo II out of New Rome and the heroes head from the original Rome.  In Rome the heroes aim to rescue Hazel’s brother and fellow demigod Nico D’Angelo, the son of Hades, who is being held hostage by Gaia’s minions.  Annabeth, however, has her own mission in Rome, assigned to her by her mother, Athena.  Annabeth is meant to follow the mark of Athena and fight an unknown and undefeated foe in order to right and ancient slight the Roman’s committed against Athena.

Review:

The Mark of Athena is the third book in Rick Riordan’s Heroes of Olympus series and picks up right where The Son of Neptune ended.  With The Mark of Athena, Riordan delivers another fast-paced adventure fantasy that will not leave readers disappointed.  Riordan will gain new fans with this series and will please Percy Jackson fans with the return of favorite characters Percy and Annabeth.  In addition to a thrilling adventure story, readers will also learn much about figures from Greek and Roman mythology in Riordan’s latest middle grade novel.

Genre:

Adventure

Fantasy

Reading Level/Interest Level:

Grades 6-9/Grades 4-10

Similar Books:

Percy Jackson and the Olympians Series by Rick Riordan

Joha Makes a Wish

Eric A. Kimmel. Joha Makes a Wish. Illustrated by Omar Rayyan. Marshall Cavendish Children, 2010. 40 pages. $17.99 ISBN 9780761455998

Joha makes a wish is a story about being happy with what you have. One day while walking to Baghdad, Joha stumbles upon a wishing stick. Joha thinks for a moment and decides to wish for a new pair of leather shoes to replace his old sandals, but alas his sandals disappear and no new shoes replace them. Disgruntled, Joha wishes the stick would disappear, but it remains stuck to his hand instead. He continues his walk to Baghdad barefoot and stuck with the wishing stick. Joha’s wishes continue to go badly until he is forced to flee the palace guard after causing the sultan’s nose to erupt in warts when he wished for the sultan’s wart to disappear. Joha stumbles upon a kind old man he hides him and explains that the reason Joha’s wishes are not working is because he is holding the wishing stick upside down. Joha corrects his mistake and wishes for his sandals back. Viola! His sandals are returned to him and he sets off for the palace to fix the king’s warts. After eliminating the warts on the sultan’s face the king rewards Joha with a donkey, but takes Joha’s wishing stick for himself. Joha did not intend to give the sultan his wishing stick and as he rode away on his donkey wonders if he should have explained to the sultan how the wishing stick worked. The sultan never figures out how to use the wishing stick, but learns his lesson about taking what does not belong to him.

The Fault in Our Stars

Green, John. The Fault in Our Stars. Dutton Books, 2012. 318 pages, $17.99 ISBN: 9780525478812 (trade)

The Fault in our Stars is not just another cancer story, it is a poignant love story between to teenagers farced to face mortality much too soon.  Hazel has been sick for years and even though the drugs have shrunk the tumors and oxygen helps her breath, her death is looming in the near future.  Hazel meets August in a support group for kids with cancer.  August is in remission from the osteosarcoma that took one of his legs.  Hazel is desperate to know that life will continue for her loved one’s after she is gone.  She becomes fixated on discovering the ending of her favorite novel, which leaves the reader hanging the narrator, dies.  The novel has great meaning for Augustus as well and together with Hazel’s mom they travel to Amsterdam to meet the author and learn the end of the story.  Instead they discover what it is to live and love.

What can I say about John Green’s lastest book, The Fault in Our Stars?  It is funny, romantic, tragic, and poignant.  Hazel and Augustus’ romance may be tragic, but it was also beautiful, what they gave to each other and added to the other’s life.  You cannot help but think about mortality when reading The Fault in Our Stars and all the things you might miss out on if you were to die at 16. 

Interest Level:

Grade 10 and up

Author’s Website:

http://johngreenbooks.com/

Pink

Wilkinson, Lili. Pink. Harper Teen. 2011. 310 pages, $16.99. ISBN 9780061926532 

At her old school, Ava was the emo lesbian girl, but Ava is not sure she really is that girl.  That is the real reason Ava changes schools and enrolls in Billy Hughes, even though she told her girlfriend, Chloe she was changing school because she wanted to be more challenged academically.  It is not that Ava does not love Chloe, she is smart and sophisticated, but Ava also thinks she might like boys and wearing skirts and the color pink.  Ava is immediately embraced by popular girls Alexis, Vivian, and Ella-Grace, but she also finds friends in the unpopular Screws, who Ava does stage crew with.  Ava feels compelled to please everyone, trying to be a different person for Chloe, her popular friends and her Screw friends.  Ave will learn that by pretending to be what she is not for other people will only hurt them and herself.

At first I was not sure I liked Ava very much, she was so willing to bend to those around her to be accepted, but I realized she was not really mean or hurtful at heart.  Like every teenager Ava is on a journey of discovering her identity and who she really is.  It is obvious Ava feels under a lot of pressure to be someone she is not by Chloe, her parents, and friends at school.  This is an issue that many teens will relate to; everyone wants to fit in, but is it worth it if fitting in means not being true to yourself?

Interest Level:

Grades 9 and up

Awards/Honors:

Stonewall Book Award 2012 Honor Book

Author’s Website:

http://liliwilkinson.com.au/

Almost Astronauts: 13 Women Who Dared to Dream

Stone, Tanya Lee. Almost Astronauts: 13 Women Who Dared to Dream.  Candlewick Press, Somerville, MA: 2008. 134 pages. Tr. $24.99 ISBN 9780763636111

Almost Astronauts tells the story of the “Mercury 13” women who were chosen to undergo astronaut testing in order to study the possibility of sending women to space.  The Mercury 7 men were the first humans in outerspace.  NASA had no interest in sending women to space, but Dr. Randy Lovelace did.  Lovelace believed that women were just as capable as men, and being lighter weight would be cheaper to send into space, saving NASA almost a $1000 a pound.  Lovelace decided to run tests on female pilots to proved to NASA that women were just as capable of being astronauts as men.  Lovelace’s first subject was young pilot Jerrie Cobb.  Cobb completed all of the tests just as well as he male astronauts, but with fewer complaints.  But Cobb was only finished with phase one of the tests.  Phase two’s psychological tests included an isolation test in which Cobb would have to spend time in an isolation tank.  The isolation tank was filled with water and was completely void of light and sound.  Most subjects only lasted a few hours in the isolation and tank and many spoke to or sang to themselves while in the tank.  Cobb spent over 9 hours in the tank, hardly uttering a word, only checking in to report that she was okay every few hours.  No one had spent as long in the isolation tank as Cobb and none of the male astronauts’ isolation testing was as rigorous as Cobb’s.  The male astronauts were simply asked to spend 2 to 3 hours in a dark room equipped with a desk, pen, and paper.  Cobb underwent one final phase of testing at the Naval School of Aviation Medicine in Pensacola, Florida where she would undergo the same fitness tests as male astronauts.  Once again, Cobb excelled, passing all the tests.  12 more women followed in Cobb’s footsteps completing the entire phase one and two tests, but unfortunately the Naval School refused the use of their facilities for the other 12 subjects without an official request from NASA, which NASA refused to give.  Lovelace’s tests had come to a standstill, but the fight for women to become astronauts had not. 

Awards/Honors

ALA Notable Book 2010

Sibert Award 2012

YALSA Best Books for Young Adults 2010

YALSA Best Nonfiction for Young Adults Finalist 2010

Front and Back Matter,

TOC, Foreword by Margaret A. Weitekamp, Author’s Note, Appendix, Further Reading, Webliography, Sources, Source Notes, Photography Credits, Index, Acknowledgments

Author’s Website

http://www.tanyastone.com/

If Stones Could Speak: Unlocking the Secrets of Stonehenge

Aronson, Marc. If Stones Could Speak: Unlocking the Secrets of Stonehenge.  National Geographic, Washington D.C.: 2010. 64 pages. Tr. $17.95 ISBN 9781426305993

If Stones Could Speak is a fascinating new look at Stonehenge, featuring the latest research and theories about the famous monument.  According to archaeologist Mark Parker Pearson, Stonehenge consists not only of the stone circle, but also the surrounding sites including: Southern circle, woodhenge, long barrow, cursus, avenue, Durringson walls, and blue Stonehenge.  Pearson and his fellow archaeologist from Madagascar, Ramilisonina, believe that Stonehenge itself is a monument built to honor the dead.  Ramilisonina has seen similar stone structures in Madagascar which as constructed to honor the ancestors.  Previous theories held that the stone circle was some type of temple where the ancients worshiped.  Pearson believes Ramilisonina is right about Stonehenge being a monument to the dead and he believes that the Southern circle is the remains of a village.  So far Pearson and his crew have uncovered nine neolithic homes, and believe there may have been as many as a 1,000 homes on the site in the past.  This is just one of many mysteries that await to be discovered at Stonehenge and it’s surrounding sites. 

Awards/Honors

Orbis Pictus Honor Book 2011

Front and Back Matter

TOC, Epilogue, Appendices: Encyclopedia of Stonehenge, The Ever-Changing Timeline of Stonehenge, Suggestions for Further Reading

Author’s Website

http://www.marcaronson.com/

Graceling

Cashore, Kristen Graceling. 2008.  Harcourt, Inc., 471 pages. $17.00 ISBN: 015206396X

Katsa was born Graced, marked by her different colored eyes, one blue, one green, but it was not until she was eight that her Grace manifested when she accidently killed her cousin in self defense.  Katsa despises her Grace and her uncle who has turned her into his Child Killer, sending Katsa to punish those who displease him.  To make up for the pain she inflicts Katsa forms the Council with the help of her cousin Raffin and the spymaster Oll,  The Council works to fight for the disadvantaged throughout the five inner kingdoms of Wester, Nander, Estill, Middluns, and Sunder. 

It is because of a Council mission to rescue kidnapped Grandfather Tealiff the father of King Ror of Leinid that Katsa meets Prince Po.  Believing Katsa is responsible for rescuing his Grandfather from the dungeons of Sunder Po follows her to King Randa’s court where Po and Katsa quickly bond over their similar Graces.  Po is Graced in hand to hand combat and the two become sparring partners and soon best friends.  Their friendship almost falls apart when Katsa discovers that Po’s true Grace allows him to sense the people around him, how they are feeling, where they are in relation to him and their thoughts when they turn to him.  Katsa is horrified that Po has intruded on her thoughts and Po must regain her trust. 

At Po’s urging Katsa stands up to her uncle, King Randa and leaves his court with Po in search of the person responsible for the kidnapping of Po’s grandfather.  The clues lead them to King Leck of Monsea, Po’s uncle and the discovery that Leck possesses the dangerous Grace of being able to manipulate people’s minds so that they will believe everything he says.  Along the way Katsa and Po also learn about, themselves, their Graces, and each other. 

Graceling is a fantastic fantasy filled with adventure and romance.  Katsa is more than capable of taking care of herself, but she never really learns to trust until meeting Po.  I could not put Graceling down; I just had to know what was going to happen next.  Cashore does not disappoint, Graceling is filled with intrigue and adventure.  . 

Genre:

Fantasy

Interest Level:

Grades 8 and up

Awards:

Mythopoeic Fantasy Award for Children’s Literature 2009 Winner

William C. Morris Award 2009 Finalist

Andre Norton Award 2008 Finalist

Author’s Website:

http://kristincashore.blogspot.com/

Ghostopolis

TenNapel, Doug. Ghostopolis. Scholastic, 2010. 262 pages, $24.99 ISBN: 9780545210270 (trade)

TenNapel’s graphic novel revolves around Garth, a terminally ill teen who is accidentally sent to the afterlife by affable ghost hunter Frank Gallows.  Determined to rescue Garth, Frank enlists the help of his ex-girlfriend and ghost Claire Voyent to help him travel to the afterlife.  Meanwhile, Garth finds himself in a strange land with only a ghost horse named Skinny as a friend until he runs into someone who knows him, his grandfather.  With the help of Skinny and his grandfather Garth makes it to the capitol of Ghostopolis, where he meets up with Frank and Claire who have recently landed in the afterlife.  Unbeknownst to Garth, the ruler of Ghostopolis, Vaugner sees the living boy as a threat and enlists his minions to capture him and his accomplices.  In order to return home Garth must defeat the evil Vaugner and restore peace to the afterlife. 

Doug TenNapel has created a classic hero tale in his boldly illustrated graphic novel Ghostopolis.  Garth’s sudden appearance in the afterlife and his mission to defeat the evil overlord and bring peace coincides with the classic hero archetype.  TenNapel’s characters are well developed and his illustrations are bright and beautifully colored.  Ghostopolis is an edgy, fast paced, tongue in cheek tale that will leave readers wanting more. 

Interest Level:

Grades 9 and up

Author’s Website:

http://tennapel.com/

Chasing Lincolns Killer

Swanson, James L. Chasing Lincoln’s Killer. Scholastic Books, New York, NY: 2009. 200 pages. Tr. $16.99 ISBN 9780439903547

Annotation

James L. Swanson’s Chasing Lincoln’s Killer is a fast paced read which details John Wilkes Booth’s run from the law in the wake of his assassination of President Lincoln.

Review

In Chasing Lincoln’s Killer, Swanson excellently explains what kind of man John Wilkes Booth was and what motivated him to kill the president of the United States.  Booth was a Southern gentleman and stood every inch with the Confederacy during the Civil War and was sorely disappointed when he heard of General Lee’s surrender.  Booth believed if he could kidnap or assassinate President Lincoln, then he could provide new motivation for the South to go on fighting and win the war.  Booth was a handsome and well known actor at the time and knew that if he were to publicly act against Lincoln and fail, he would be most certainly sentenced to death. 

When Booth awoke on the morning of April 14, 1865, he had no definite plans to assassinate the president that day.  It was not until he went to retrieve his mail from Ford’s Theater, at the same time as a White House messenger came to notify the theater that the President and the first lady would be attending the performance that evening, which Booth started to formulate his plan.  This was not Booth’s first plot against President Lincoln, though nothing had come of his previous plots.  But Booth was prepared for the opportunity, having his cohorts in place and an escape already planned.  Booth immediately contacted his coconspirators and set a plan in motion.  While Booth assassinated President Lincoln that night, George Atzerodt would assassinate Vice President Andrew Johnson, and Lewis Powell would kill Secretary of the State Seward.  Booth was the only assassin to succeed and with coconspirator David Harold the only one to escape the city that night.  Booth and Harold spent twelve days on the run in the countryside of Maryland and Virginia.  Isolated from the new while hiding out, Booth was surprised to discover the reaction to his action had not spurred on the South, nor was the populace happy, most were angry and saddened by the president’s murder.  This did not deter Booth who continued to his escape to the deep South in Swanson’s fast paced and exciting narrative which reveals the story behind the assassinate that rocked a nation. 

Awards/Honors

YALSA’s Best Books for Young Adults 2010

Front and Back Matter

Author’s Note, List of Major Participants, From 1861 through 1865, Prologue, About the Author, Acknowledgments, Map of Assassins’ Route

Author’s Website

No Website

Chopsticks

Anthony, Jessica and Corral, Rodrigo. Chopsticks: a novel. Razorbill, 2012. $19.99 ISBN: 9781595144355 (trade)

Chopsticks is a visually stunning story about Glory a 17 year old piano prodigy that is told though photographs, drawings, news clippings, and instant messages.  After Glory’s mother died she found solace in her music, but with the arrival of Francisco, Glory’s new neighbor and boyfriend, she begins to lose interest in performing.  For Francisco, who is new to America from Argentina, Glory is only part about New York City that he likes.  Glory and Francisco’s romance remains strong even as Glory’s father tries to separate them by planning a European tour for his daughter, but the tour is cut short when Glory mysteriously is only able to play the F and G notes of Chopsticks.  Fearing he is losing his daughter to madness, Glory’s father checks her into a rest facility after a disastrous concert a Carnegie Hall.  Now, Glory has disappeared from the rest facility without a trace and nothing is as it seems to be.

Chopsticks is a wholly original story told in a new and inventive way through photographs, drawings, clippings, and IMs.  Anthony and Corral have included multimedia features and reader participation by including links to YouTube videos.  Subtle hints and clues to what really happens to Glory are included throughout the book and readers will be flipping pack pages to catch any clues they may have missed.  Instead of a traditional mystery where the puzzle is solved for the reader, Chopsticks’ mystery must be solved by the reader themselves, with an ambiguous ending that changes depending on how the reader interprets the clues. 

Interest Level:

Grades 9 and up

Author’s Website:

http://chopsticksnovel.tumblr.com/

Wheels of Change: How Women Rode the Bicycle to Freedom (With a Few Flat Tires Along the Way)

Macy, Sue. Wheels of Change: How Women Rode the Bicycle to Freedom (With a Few Flat Tires Along the Way).  National Geographic, Washington D.C.: 2011. 96 pages. Tr. $18.95 ISBN 9781426307614

Wheels of Change chronicles the history of the bicycle in relation to women’s history.  The bicycle allowed women much more freedom, but from the beginning there were critics who believed that the bicycle was an unladylike method of transportation.  Inventors even made side saddle bikes so ladies would not have to compromise their modesty by straddling a bicycle; however most bicyclists, male and female preferred the traditional safety bike.  The bicycle also caused uproar over women’s fashion as bikes were difficult to ride in long skirts and cumbersome petticoats.  Bicycling costumes came in many different styles.  For a time the bloomers saw a rebirth, but most women bicyclist simply opted for a slightly shorter skirt.  Besides bicycle styles and women’s fashion Macy also discusses the first female bike racers, women who competed to set distance records, how the bicycle was used in advertising and how the bicycle is still freeing women across the globe. 

Awards/Honors

YALSA Award for Excellence in Nonfiction for Adults 2012

Front and Back Matter

TOC, Foreword by Leah Missbach Day, Introduction, Features on: Celebrity Cyclists, Cycling Slang, Cycling Songs, the Cycling Press, Sell with Cycles. Highlights in Cycling and Women’s History, Resources, Sources of Quotes, Index, Picture Credits

Author’s Website

http://www.suemacy.com/

Terrier

Pierce, Tamora. Terrier.  2006.  Random House, 581 pages. $18.99 ISBN: 037581468X

Beka Cooper is about to start her first year as a Puppy in the Provost Guard or as they are commonly called the Dogs.  She has been assigned to the Lower City of Corus, where she grew up until she went to live with her foster family in the Lord Provost’s home.  Beka has been assigned to the best pair of Dogs in the city, Clare Goodwin and Matthias Tunstall.  Beka is eager to learn and with her unique abilities to hear the ghosts that ride on the backs of pigeons and talk to dust spinners, she is soon bring her Dogs valuable clues in more than one crime.  Beka discovers that a mass murder has occurred somewhere in the lower city, but must work with Goodwin and Tunstall to find enough physical evidence to discover the crime scene, murderer and motive. 

On her own time Beka devotes herself to helping find the Shadow Snake, the kidnapper and murderer of Beka’s friend Tansy’s son Roland.  With the help of her magic cat Pounce, friends on the other side of the law, Rosto, Aniki, and Kora, Beka slowly collects enough evidence to take to her partners.  Beka knows she must triple her efforts when the Shadow Snake takes Tansy’s husband Herun and his grandfather Crookshank refuses to pay the ransom.   With good detective work and the help of her partners, Beka hopes the Dogs will be able to catch both killers and bring them to justice.

Terrier is another strong start for what is sure to be a fabulous series by Tamora Pierce.  Terrier brings readers back to the world of Tortal that Pierce first introduced in her Alanna series, but Terrier takes place 200 years before Alanna.  Despite the difference in time period between series, fans of Pierce will recognize the character Pounce, and the glimpse of Beka’s descendent from Alanna George Cooper, who ironically is the Rogue in his own time.  While the tastes of the familiar are there, Terrier is very different from Pierce’s other Tortall novels: first Terrier is written in journal form, second it’s a murder mystery and a good one at that. 

Reading Level:

7^th grade and up

Series Information:

Beka Cooper Trilogy:

Terrier

Bloodhound

Mastiff

Awards/Honors:

YALSA Best Books for Young Adults 2007

2006 Cybil Award Finalist

Author’s Website:

http://www.tamora-pierce.com/

An American Plague: The True and Terrifying Story of the Yellow Fever Epidemic of 1793

Murphy, Jim. An American Plague: The True and Terrifying Story of the Yellow Fever
Epidemic of 1793.  Clarion Books, New York: 2003. 165 pages. Tr. $17.00 ISBN 0395776082

In 1793 no one knew the cause of Yellow Fever, so when it hit Philadelphia that summer it was attributed to foul smells from the harbor and dirty streets.  An American Plague tells the story of how the Yellow Fever epidemic that swept Philadelphia in 1793 effectively shut down the city and the federal government, which at the time was based out of Philadelphia instead of Washington D.C.  Most of the cities wealthy citizen fled to country homes or the homes of family in other cities to escape the illness, this included the top government officials such as President Washington, Thomas Jefferson, and Alexander Hamilton.  Those who stayed in the city were mostly those who had no other option; however there were a few people who stayed to help tend to the ill.  One of those people was Doctor Benjamin Rush.  Rush believed the fever sweeping the city was Yellow Fever, unlike some of his colleagues and went straight to work finding a way to combat the disease.  Rush’s treatment proved effective, though controversial.  In 1793 medicine was still very rudimentary and consisted of bleeding and purging patients, which is precisely what Rush’s treatment called for.  Rush was not the only one who opted to stay in the city and help the ill.  Several prominent towns people worked tirelessly to put together a make shift hospital and find volunteers to help tend to the sick and clean up the city. 

Awards/Honors

ALSC Notable Book 2004

Newberry Honor Book 2004

Orbis Pictus Award 2004

Sibert Award Winner 2004

YALSA Best Books for Young Adults 2004

Front and Back Matter

TOC, Sources, Acknowledgments, A Note about the Illustrations, Index

Author’s Website

http://www.jimmurphybooks.com/