Or Give Me Death by Ann RinaldiPublisher: Harcourt
Publication Date: 2003
Awards:
Summary: Written by Sarah Ghazal, 6th Hour Social Studies
In this historical-fiction novel about Patrick Henry and his family, Ann Rinaldi shows the story of Patrick Henry and how he got the inspiration for his famous speech “Give me liberty or give death". Patrick Henry’s wife Sarah is slowly losing her mind. In the beginning Sarah tries to “becalm” the baby to stop him from crying, by almost droning him in a basin of water. Then she tries to run away and undresses in the garden. The final clue that she is losing her mind is that she starts to predict the future! She claims that her husband is dead after being governor six times and that there is a major flood. To stop Sarah before she harms herself or the other children Patrick builds a room in the cellar. That way she is safe by herself. She continues telling the future and thinks that her “negro” maid is poisoning her, to make her mother isn’t being poisoned her eldest daughter Patsy secretly drinks her mother’s special tea. Sarah’s only child that actually understands her is her daughter Ann. However Ann knows which of Sarah’s children is going to get her mind sickness.
In this historical-fiction novel about Patrick Henry and his family, Ann Rinaldi shows the story of Patrick Henry and how he got the inspiration for his famous speech “Give me liberty or give death". Patrick Henry’s wife Sarah is slowly losing her mind. In the beginning Sarah tries to “becalm” the baby to stop him from crying, by almost droning him in a basin of water. Then she tries to run away and undresses in the garden. The final clue that she is losing her mind is that she starts to predict the future! She claims that her husband is dead after being governor six times and that there is a major flood. To stop Sarah before she harms herself or the other children Patrick builds a room in the cellar. That way she is safe by herself. She continues telling the future and thinks that her “negro” maid is poisoning her, to make her mother isn’t being poisoned her eldest daughter Patsy secretly drinks her mother’s special tea. Sarah’s only child that actually understands her is her daughter Ann. However Ann knows which of Sarah’s children is going to get her mind sickness.
After four years in the cellar Sarah makes a desperate plea to her husband; “Patrick, Patrick I beg of you, give me my freedom or let me go to my death” Ann believes that that is where her father got the inspiration for his famous quote!” Give me liberty or give me death!”
Publisher: Simon & Schuster Children's
Publication Date: 2008
Awards: Scott O'Dell Award for Historical Fiction, National Book Award
Summary: Isabel is a slave trapped in New York City in the early days of the Revolution. Sold to Loyalists when her former owner dies, she's offered the chance to spy for the Patriots. But does their talk of liberty really include her? What about the British, who promise freedom to slaves who join their fight against the rebels?
The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Traitor to the Nation by M.T. AndersonPublisher: Candlewick Press
Publication Date: 2006
Awards & Recognitions: National Book Award, Boston Globe-Horn Book Award
Summary: Young Octavian is brought up in a house filled with scholars and scientists, with his captured African princess mother close by, unaware that they are part of a scientific study. Provided with a classical education and garbed in finery and a requisite white wig, he initially assumes that having food and excrement weighed is normal. Through his friendship with valet Pro Bono, he realizes that while America prepares to fight for its freedom from England, the struggling country isn't fighting for his freedom. The testing of a smallpox vaccine during a "pox party" results in his mother's death and Octavian's flight from the household. Joining a group of American revolutionaries, his grief-stricken demise is shared in letters written by one of the fighters, which track Octavian's travels until the day he is captured and returned to the Novanglian College of Lucidity in this first of a two-part series.
Publisher: Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers
Publication Date: 2000
Awards: ALA's Best Book for Young Adults
Summary: August 1793. Fourteen-year-old Mattie Cook is ambitious, adventurous, and sick to death of listening to her mother. Mattie has plans of her own. She wants to turn the Cook Coffeehouse into the finest business in Philadelphia, the capital of the new United States. But the waterfront is abuzz with reports of disease. "Fever" spreads from the docks and creeps toward Mattie's home, threatening everything she holds dear. As the cemeteries fill with fever victims, fear turns to panic, and thousands flee the city. Then tragedy strikes the coffeehouse, and Mattie is trapped in a living nightmare. Suddenly, her struggle to build a better life must give way to something even more important -- the fight to stay alive.
