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The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Traitor to the Nation, Volume I:

The Pox Party
Front Cover
90 Reviews
Candlewick Press, Sep 12, 2006 - Juvenile Fiction - 351 pages
Various diaries, letters, and other manuscripts chronicle the experiences of Octavian, a young African American, from birth to age sixteen, as he is brought up as part of a science experiment in the years leading up to and during the Revolutionary War. It sounds like a fairy tale. He is a boy dressed in silks and white wigs and given the finest of classical educations. Raised by a group of rational philosophers known only by numbers, the boy and his mother -- a princess in exile from a faraway land -- are the only persons in their household assigned names. As the boy's regal mother, Cassiopeia, entertains the house scholars with her beauty and wit, young Octavian begins to question the purpose behind his guardians' fanatical studies. Only after he dares to open a forbidden door does he learn the hideous nature of their experiments -- and his own chilling role in them. Set against the disquiet of Revolutionary Boston, M. T. Anderson's extraordinary novel takes place at a time when American Patriots rioted and battled to win liberty while African slaves were entreated to risk their lives for a freedom they would never claim. The first of two parts, this deeply provocative novel reimagines the past as an eerie place that has startling resonance for readers today.
  

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Anderson's writing here is impressive. - Goodreads
The premise is great, but it was horribly executed. - Goodreads
Much of the plot and proceedings were genius. - Goodreads
The writing is beautiful. - Goodreads
The plot is complex and the characters unfold slowly. - Goodreads

Review: The Pox Party (The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Traitor to the Nation #1)

User Review  - Rii - Goodreads

Inner Slip Cover: "He is a boy dressed in silks and white wigs and given the finest of classical educations. Raised by a mysterious group of rational philosophers known only by numbers, the boy and ... Read full review

Review: The Pox Party (The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Traitor to the Nation #1)

User Review  - Melissa - Goodreads

Reading this book was like trudging through a swamp. Slow and painful. I don't mean to be THAT reader, but I honestly wouldn't recommend this book to anyone else. Nor would I tell people not to read ... Read full review

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About the author (2006)

\M. T. Anderson is the author of several books for children and young adults, including FEED, which was a National Book Award Finalist and winner of the Los Angeles Times Book Prize. M. T. Anderson lives in Cambridge, Massachusetts.