Use recipes from the late 1700’s and invite the community?

Put on a tea party like the Ogilvies did, or turn your classroom into the Cook Coffeehouse.

How do mosquitoes spread yellow fever? What other diseases do mosquitoes spread? Why aren’t all diseases spread this way? Compare the mortality rate with that of the 1918 influenza epidemic and the AIDS epidemic.

Calculate how many people died in the yellow fever epidemic.

Make a list of words they used in 1793 that we don’t use today, such as “balderdash” and “bunkum.” What words that we use today might sound strange and old-fashioned in the year 2200?.

Rewrite a scene from Eliza’s point of view.

When did these routes become the Underground Railroad? Make a multimedia presentation using music from the late 1700’s. Research how escaped slaves made their way to Philadelphia.

Philadelphia was home to the largest population of free African-Americans in the United States.

Mattie was born in 1776, Make a time line of Mattie’s life and the history of the United States.

Why did they do that? Would you have helped? The Free African Society volunteered to take care of the sick and bury the dead, even though there was no cure for yellow fever. How are Maggie’s dreams in conflict with what her society expects of young women? Why does Maggie’s mother want a different life for her daughter?ħ. After the war they were expected to go back to their spinning wheels and kitchens. During the Revolutionary War, women took on tasks that were traditionally performed by men.

What do you think will happen to Mattie, her mother, and friends in 1794? What will their lives look like in 1800? In 1813?Ħ.

What does it symbolize? What other symbols are used in the book?ĥ. The color yellow is used throughout the story. Why did some people think it was safe to stay? What would you have done?Ĥ. Mattie’s grandfather didn’t think there was any need to rush out of Philadelphia when the fever started to spread. How was the life of a fourteen-year-old in 1793 different from the life of a fourteen-year-old today? In which period would you rather live? Why?ģ. What was Philadelphia like in 1793? What were the advantages and disadvantages of living in the countryside outside of Philadelphia?Ģ.

Suddenly her struggle to build a better life must give way to something even more important-the fight to stay alive.ġ. Then tragedy strikes the coffeehouse, and Mattie is trapped in a living nightmare.

“Fever” spreads from the docks and creeps toward Mattie’s home, threatening everything she holds dear.Īs the cemeteries fill with fever victims, fear turns to panic, and thousands flee the city. She wants to turn the Cook Coffeehouse into the finest business in Philadelphia, the capital of the new United States.īut the waterfront is abuzz with reports of disease. Fourteen-year-old Mattie Cook is ambitious, adventurous, and sick to death of listening to her mother.

Laurie halse