Book Review
An American Plague: The True and Terrifying Story of the Yellow Epidemic of 1793 by Jim Murphy is an outstanding book that I found emotional to read. This book is about the disease of yellow fever. It killed thousands of people in 1793 and drove the people out of the city to get away from the horrible and highly contagious fever.

The first chapter describes what it was like in Philadelphia before the terrible yellow fever occurred. The next couple of chapters are about the first victims of yellow fever and how the epidemic might have occurred. The symptoms and how the victims felt are so very descriptive that you almost feel the pain and fear amongst the people. The drawings in this book are spectacular. They help you understand a little more of what the book is talking to you about. Even though they are black and white, they are still detailed and helpful. Two of the pictures I really liked were of a person when he just got yellow fever and then the same person when he had yellow fever for a while. The person looked miserable. His skin was a yellow-like color which gave the fever its name. Some things I learned were that they didn’t know that the fever was coming and it spread very quickly from person to person. I also learned that the fever might have happened because of the damp weather and the odor surrounding the city. A glossary and index are included.

I would recommend this book to fourth through seventh graders who love five-star books. I learned a lot from this book. I hope you will take the time to read it yourself and learn as much as I did.

Josie T.
Hawthorne School
3rd Place of 5th graders
Read, Write & Win, 2006