Shelly's Book Blog

Chains, by Laurie Halse Anderson, is one that I've been wanting to read for some time because I enjoyed Fever 1793 so much. I was not disappointed. The novel is about a slave girl named Isabel who lives in New York during the Revolutionary War. Anderson is a YA author, but both Chains and Fever 1793 are certainly appropriate for upper-grade elementary school students, as well, especially 5th graders studying American history. In Chains, using her considerable storytelling skill, Anderson weaves fictional characters into a fascinating account of the many battles fought in and around New York in the year 1776. Readers hear about the horrible living conditions in which rebel prisoners were kept by their British guards, and about the appalling realities of slave life during that time. Isabel's intelligence, courage, and goodness make her a sympathetic character for whom readers will both weep and cheer. This is historical fiction at its best.