Annotated Bibliography
Anderson, Laurie Halse. (2000). Fever, 1793. New York: Simon & Schuster Books for
Young Readers.
YA Universal
Theme(s):
Survival, Good vs Evil, Love, Suffering, Coming of Age
Grade Level: Secondary
Summary: This historical novel takes
place in the year 1973 during the Yellow Fever outbreak in Philidelphia. The
main character is a teenage girl named Mattie Cook. Mattie’s family owns a
coffee shop in the city. At the coffee shop, a server named Polly comes down
with the fever and dies shortly after. Next, Mattie’s mother gets sick, and the
doctors try to cure the illness by draining her blood. Mattie and her
grandfather escape into the countryside. Mattie gets the fever, and she is
brought to French doctors who cure her using an alternative method. Instead of
draining her blood, Mattie is cured with food and plenty of rest. Once she is
healthy again, Mattie and her Grandfather return to Philidelphia and find their
coffee shop has been looted by thieves. Mattie’s grandfather protects her from
attacking robbers and is killed. Mattie wanders the city by herself and meets
an orphan named Nell who helps reunite Matty with Eliza, a free black woman who
is an old friend of Mattie’s. Next, Mattie works with the Free African Society
and helps Eliza take care of other sick people. Eventually, winter comes and
the fever vanishes. Soon, people return to the city and life begins anew. Mattie
re-opens the coffee shop, and eventually reunites with her mother. The major
theme of this story is resilience because Mattie is forced to endure the
horrifying challenges of the Yellow Fever.
Pelzer, David J. (1995) A
Child Called "It": One Child's Courage to Survive. Deerfield
Beach,
Florida. Health Communications.
YA Universal
Theme(s): Survival,
Good vs Evil, Suffering, Coming of Age
Grade Level:
Secondary
Summary: This is an autobiography by Dave
Pelzer. Dave tells the story of how he managed to survive years of abuse from
his mother. The story begins when the school nurse notices David’s bruises.
David lies about how he got hurt, but the nurse knows what is going on. The
nurse brings David to the police so he can safely escape his mother’s violence.
David flashes back to his childhood to tell the story of his pain. David’s
mother would beat, starve, and torture David in horrible ways. The school
became a place to escape from his mother, but David had a very difficult time.
Mrs. Pelzer would not let David change his clothes, and his body odor alienated
him from his peers. There was no safe place for David to hide. David’s father
was not as terrible as his mother, and this gave David hope. Unfortunately, he
lost faith in his father because David was stabbed by his mother, and his
father did not do anything about it. At the end of the story, David reflects
back on his life as an adult. David now has a son named Stephen, and he
reflects back on how the years of abuse have made him a stronger person.
Orwell, George. (1996) Animal
Farm. New York, NY: Signet Classics.
YA Universal Theme(s): Peace and
War, Good vs Evil, Deception
Grade Level:
Secondary
Summary: Animal Farm is a satirical fairy
tale meant to criticize the Soviet Union during the Second World War. George
Orwell uses the setting of a farm to describe the way Joseph Stalin failed as a
leader during the rise of Communism. George Orwell’s characters include pigs,
dogs, horses, and other farm animals. The owner of the farm is owned by a cruel and alcoholic man named Mr. Jones. A
pig named Old Major has an idea for all the animals to rebel against Mr. Jones
and run the farm themselves. Old Major envisions a farm where all animals are
equal. Old Major dies, and the animals succeed in taking over the farm.
Unfortunately, the animals fail at building an egalitarian society, and
conflict begins between to rival pigs: Snowball and Napoleon. Napoleon drives
Snowball out of the farm using an army of vicious dogs. Life on the farm
declines rapidly. Napoleon hordes resources and he treats the “lesser” animals
cruelly. Napoleon’s dictatorship
eventually leads to the execution of a loyal horse named Boxer. Overall, the
story shows how the animals sought to transform their society, but the leading
pigs became just as oppressive as the humans once were. Orwell’s main points in
this story are to criticize the nature of war, greed, and the imbalance of
power.
Golding, W., & Epstein, E. L.
(1954). Lord of the Flies. New York:
Perigee.
YA Universal Theme(s): Survival, Peace vs War, Good vs
Evil, Coming of Age
Grade Level: Secondary.
Summary: This story takes place on a deserted island where a plane
has crashed. The survivors are a
group of young British boys who were
on the plane to escape a war. Without any adults on the island,
the boys attempt to organize a new
society amongst themselves. Ralph is elected as their “chief,”
and the boys decide to use a conch
shell for a talking stick. Ralph decides
to work on maintaining
a signal fire for their rescue, but
a boy named Jack opposes him. Instead, Jack spends his time
hunting pigs for food. Jack becomes
hostile and aggressive throughout the book, and soon the boys
begin to fight over who should be
the leader. Also, the boys become fearful about a “monster”
lurking somewhere on the island, and
a boy named Simon is accidentally killed during a frenzy. Jack
and Ralph continue fighting over
resources and leadership, and another innocent boy named Piggy
is murdered in cold-blood. Fearing
for his life, Ralph runs away and find an officer of the British
Navy here to rescue the boys. There
is irony in this story because the boys were on the plane
Fleeing from war and they ended up
starting their own “mini-war” on the island. The boy’s fear
of a “monster” on the island is a
symbol to represent the dark side of humanity within all people. This
story points out that human beings will most likely revert to violent and primitive behavior without
proper leadership in an ordered society.
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