Q 01/05

Which insect, buzzing in Mattie Cook's ear as Fever 1793 opens, actually spread the epidemic?

A) Rat flea

B) Mosquito

C) Housefly

D) Body louse

Answer · why

B) Mosquito

Mosquito bites carried the virus, but nobody in 1793 knew it; doctors blamed bad air, and the insect's role was not confirmed for about another centur...

Q 02/05

In Fever 1793, whose return to Philadelphia shows Mattie Cook the epidemic is over?

A) Thomas Jefferson

B) Alexander Hamilton

C) George Washington

D) John Adams

Answer · why

C) George Washington

George Washington comes down High Street in November with wagons of returning families behind him, and in one of them Mattie spots her missing mother.

Q 03/05

In Fever 1793, what change in the weather does Mattie Cook wait for to end the epidemic?

A) The first frost

B) Heavy autumn rain

C) A strong north wind

D) Thick river fog

Answer · why

A) The first frost

The first frost arrives in late October, and Mattie and Eliza carry the sick children outside into the cold air, where they quickly begin to recover.

Q 04/05

Which serving girl at the Cook coffeehouse is the first person Mattie knows to die in Fever 1793?

A) Colette

B) Susannah

C) Nell

D) Polly

Answer · why

D) Polly

Polly had been Mattie's childhood playmate, yet Mattie's mother forbids her to go to the funeral for fear she will catch the sickness too.

Q 05/05

What kind of pet belongs to Mattie's grandfather, the old Revolutionary War captain, in Fever 1793?

A) A parrot

B) A monkey

C) A hound

D) A raven

Answer · why

A) A parrot

A parrot named King George is the old soldier's companion, and the squawking bird follows Mattie all the way to a stream when she goes looking for wat...