Rebellion 1776 (Reprint)

Description: Three starred reviews!

From New York Times bestselling author Laurie Halse Anderson comes an "thoroughly researched, emotionally resonant" (Booklist, starred review) historical fiction middle grade adventure about a girl struggling to survive amid a smallpox epidemic, the public's fear of inoculation, and the seething Revolutionary War.

In the spring of 1776, thirteen-year-old Elsbeth Culpepper wakes to the sound of cannons. It's the Siege of Boston, the Patriots' massive drive to push the Loyalists out that turns the city into a chaotic war zone. Elsbeth's father--her only living relative--has gone missing, leaving her alone and adrift in a broken town while desperately seeking employment to avoid the orphanage.

Just when things couldn't feel worse, the smallpox epidemic sweeps across Boston. Now, Bostonians must fight for their lives against an invisible enemy in addition to the visible one. While a treatment is being frantically fine-tuned, thousands of people rush in from the countryside begging for inoculation. At the same time, others refuse protection, for the treatment is crude at best and at times more dangerous than the disease itself.

Elsbeth, who had smallpox as a small child and is now immune, finds work taking care of a large, wealthy family with discord of their own as they await a turn at inoculation, but as the epidemic and the revolution rage on, will she find her father?

Brief description: Laurie Halse Anderson is a New York Times bestselling author known for tackling tough subjects with humor and sensitivity. She's twice been a National Book Award finalist, for Chains and Speak; Chains also received the Scott O'Dell Award for Historical Fiction. Laurie was chosen for the 2009 Margaret A. Edwards Award and received the Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award in 2023, presented to her by the Crown Princess of Sweden. She lives in Pennsylvania, and you can follow her adventures on X @HalseAnderson or visit her at MadWomanintheForest.com.

Review Quotes: Rebellion 1776 is a gripping novel that takes place smack in the middle of a revolution. Laurie Halse Anderson (Speak; Shout; The Seeds of America trilogy) applies her trademark humor, sensitivity, and prodigious other talents to the Revolutionary War, this time from the sharp-witted perspective of a 13-year-old white kitchen maid. [...] Elsbeth's brave though risky stands against unfairness mark her as a feminist in spirit, if not in name. Anderson's fluid and lively storytelling is on full display in Elsbeth's thrilling exploits, clever manipulations, and hilarious wordplay, which shows up in biting parenthetical asides and entertaining insults like "foggy-brained numbskull" and "Captain Fizzlefart." Rebellion 1776 brings the American Revolution to street level, shining a brilliant light on the relevance history always has for the present. --Shelf Awareness *STARRED REVIEW* "4/11/25"