Fever 1793

Earlier this semester I read a book called Fever 1793 by Laurie Halse Anderson for my TE401 social studies class. I thought this would be a great book to share with all of you since most of you want to be teachers and I believe most of you have not yet taken 401. The book is a fictional book about a girl named Mattie and her experiences with Yellow Fever. She never gets Yellow Fever herself but she is surrounded by many people who do, including her mother. The story is a story that keeps you wanting to read so that you can find out what happens next. It's also a story that makes you attached to Mattie and at times you feel terrible for her and want to help her (at least I did). I don't want to give away the book, but I think that it does a great job of keeping you entertained while teaching about the lifestyle in the 1700s and also about the Yellow Fever epidemic that was a big issue in 1793. It's also a great book because althought it is fiction, a lot of the information is based on nonfiction. Some of the characters are fictional characters, but things that occur are facts and some of the characters are based on the lives of true people as well. Overall I thought it was a great book and would be wonderful for a teacher to use in a classroom. I would guess it would be best for about 5th grade. Has anyone else read this book? What do you think about it?