The Pox Party: Octavian Nothing, Vol. 1 (by M.T. Anderson)

This book demonstrates the extreme side of Enlightenment philosophy. The vocabulary used is excellent as is the style; the book is written in the style fitting the setting. The book is brutal, but brings up issues of science that are still relevant. The concept of slavery is also there for discussion. Another age appropriate discussion theme is the search for identity. Coupled with its sequel, the title character is on a quest for who he is, both in name and in action.

I was 14 when I read this (still am), and found it to be just right and actually with an interesting voice. The narrator is supposed to be neutral for the most part, so things that might sound awful under other voices don't sound too heart-panging. Trust me, as a teenage boy, I try to avoid a lot of "touchy-feely" stuff. The novel had some crude humorous aspects, but in 18th century text, they can be tricky to catch. So, this content isn't that bad, only the violence and [animal] abuse. For example, a conversation between boy and master: BOY: Why aren't you a father? MASTER: Because there are many uses for sheep's guts. It took me a second to realize that the man was referring to his time period's condom.

I read it at fifteen, but a mature 13 year old could definitely handle it.

Challenges well-loved myths about America: slavery is an ugly, hypocritical truth during the push for "liberty"; economic/market concerns interfered with the nation's ethical considerations; the Enlightenment had an ugly irrational side; the Revolution was not quite so clean as "good guys beat bad guys" (e.g., England may have been more enlightened than the colonies about slavery); etc. I think this is a wonderful development, because it gets us to think critically about those glossy myths, but these much-needed epiphanies could be painful for a reader who believes that America is exceptional and exclusively good. This novel will also help build strong context/content knowledge, but could be a huge struggle for a reader who has a shaky grasp of history and/or geography, and especially one not familiar with the often-beautiful but syntactically dense and vocabulary-rich 18th century style, which Anderson uses to great effect.