90. I Survived the Black Death, 1348

I Survived the Black Death, 1348 (I Survived #24) Lauren Tarshis. 2024. 144 pages. [Source: Library] [4 stars] [j historical fiction, j fiction, series book]

First sentence:  I'm dying. That's all eleven-year-old Elsie Archer was thinking as she lay on a sweat-soaked straw mattress. Burning with fever, head throbbing, Elsie thrashed and moaned. The air around her stunk of sickness...and death.

Premise/plot: Lauren Tarshis' I Survived series travels way, way, way back in her newest: all the way back the fourteenth century! It stars Elsie and her best friend, Humphrey, villagers of Brambly, England. The two are in a dangerous circumstance or situation before the Plague sweeps through the village. (Being in the wrong place at the wrong time OR being in the right place at the right time...just getting caught by the bad guys). The plague might just work in their favor--in an odd way--but life will never be the same after the Black Death. 

My thoughts: This might be her most compelling book that I've read in quite a while. I didn't love the author's note. I get it. I do. But I didn't love it. The comparison linking COVID and the Black Death. I can see how kids might think these two are super similar, but, I didn't appreciate the comparison nearly as much as an adult reader. Perhaps I've just read too much history and historical fiction set in the middle ages. Perhaps I think the comparison only works on the surface level. Either way, the book itself I definitely recommend to fans of the series. Though perhaps this one isn't "typical" of the series.

 

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