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

September 18, 2006
Anderson (Whales on Stilts
) once again shows the breadth of his talents with this stunningly well-researched novel (the first of two planned) centering on 16-year-old Octavian. The author does not reveal the boy's identity right away, so by the time readers learn that he is the son of an African princess, living a life of relative privilege and intense scrutiny among a group of rational philosophers in pre–Revolutionary War Boston, they can accept his achievements—extraordinary for any teen, but especially for an African-American living at that time. These men teach him the violin, Latin and Greek. Anderson also reveals their strange quirks: the men go by numbers rather than names, and they weigh the food Octavian ingests, as well as his excrement. "It is ever the lot of children to accept their circumstances as universal, and their particularities as general," Octavian states by way of explanation. One day, at age eight, when he ventures into an off-limits room, Octavian learns he is the subject of his teachers' "zoological" study of Africans. Shortly thereafter, the philosophers' key benefactor drops out and new sponsors, led by Mr. Sharpe, follow a different agenda: they want to use Octavian to prove the inferiority of the African race. Mr. Sharpe also instigates the "Pox Party" of the title, during which the guests are inoculated with the smallpox virus, with disastrous results. Here the story, which had been told largely through Octavian's first-person narrative, advances through the letters of a Patriot volunteer, sending news to his sister of battle preparations against the British and about the talented African musician who's joined their company. As in Feed
, Anderson pays careful attention to language, but teens may not find this work, written in 18th-century prose, quite as accessible. The construction of Octavian's story is also complex, but the message is straightforward, as Anderson clearly delineates the hypocrisy of the Patriots, who chafe at their own subjugation by British overlords but overlook the enslavement of people like Octavian. Ages 14-up.

Starred review from August 25, 2008
With an eye trained to the hypocrisies and conflicted loyalties of the American Revolution, Anderson resoundingly concludes the finely nuanced bildungsroman begun in his National Book Award–winning novel. Again comprised of Octavian’s journals and a scattering of other documents, the book finds Octavian heading to Virginia in response to a proclamation made by Lord Dunmore, the colony’s governor, who emancipates slaves in exchange for military service. Octavian’s initial pride is short-lived, as he realizes that their liberation owes less to moral conviction than to political expediency. Disillusioned, facing other crises of conscience, Octavian’s growth is apparent, if not always to himself: when he expresses doubt about having become any more a man, his mentor, Dr. Trefusis, assures him, “That is the great secret of men. We aim for manhood always and always fall short. But my boy, I have seen you at least reach half way.” Made aware of freedom-fighters on both sides of the conflict (as well as heart-stopping acts of atrocity), readers who work through and embrace Anderson’s use of historical parlance will be rewarded with a challenging perspective onAmerican history. Ages 14–up.

Starred review from September 1, 2008
Gr 9 Up-Octavian, the 16-year-old slave whose story began in "The Pox Party" (Candlewick, 2006), continues his search for identity in this brilliant, affecting, and philosophical sequel. Octavian and his tutor escape from Octavian's master to relative safety in Boston where Octavian finds work as a violinist in a military band. After hearing of Lord Dunmore's promise of freedom for slaves, he enlists in the Royal Ethiopian Regiment. Following a loss at Norfolk, they then take up quarters aboard British ships, barely fending off starvation and smallpox. Octavian's uncertainty and doubt are tangible throughout. His detailed first-person narration is written in the richly expansive 18th-century prose introduced in volume one. He records the story while reviewing (and revealing to readers) his diary entries from the past year, so that "none of this shall pass from remembrance." He endures abuse, shame, grief, and humiliation, and comes close to despair; however, he is ultimately hopeful that humanity can aspire to more than warring and despoiling. Teens will identify with Octavian's internal tumult, how he experiences events as being acted upon him, and his transition from observer to participant, from boy to man. More than fascinating historical fiction, this is also a thoughtful and timeless examination of the nature of humanity and a critique of how society addresses (or ignores) identity, freedom, and oppression. Anderson's masterful pacing, surprising use of imagery and symbolism, and adeptness at crafting structure make this a powerful reimagining of slavery and the American Revolution dazzle."Amy J. Chow, The Brearley School, New York City"

Copyright 2008 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

December 9, 2008
Anderson continues the Revolutionary War saga begun in the National Book Award-winning first volume, The Pox Party. This volume opens with the slave Octavian on the run with his former tutor, Dr. Trefusis. The two land in Boston and later flee the besieged city for Virginia, where Octavian joins Lord Dunmore's Ethiopian Regiment in the hopes of winning his freedom. In the regiment, a scourge of smallpox and lack of military readiness decimate the ranks. Why It Is a Best: Six starred reviews are not wrong; the author makes good on the promise of the first book. Octavian's chilling account of the death and deprivation around him and the pure injustice of his situation call into question the values on which our nation was founded. The ending, in particular, relies heavily on the reader's having read and remembered the first volume of the series, but more happens here. Why It Is for Us: Anderson's command of period language and mannerisms brings this time to life through the eyes of a completely unique yet almost archetypal character. Octavian began his journey as an intelligent young man and ends it as an enlightened and empowered (if no better off) one, writing his own story and place in history. The title says it all: astonishing.-Angelina Benedetti, King Cty. Lib. Syst., WA

Copyright 2008 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Starred review from June 1, 2008
The story begun in The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Traitor to the Nation; v. 1: The Pox Party (2006), a National Book Award winner and a Printz Honor Book, continues in thisvolume, which offersmoreawe-inspiring reinterpretations of Americas birth. After escapingthe members of an Enlightenment college, Octavian, a teenage black slave, flees with his sympathetic tutor to the imperiled city of Boston, where thepairpose as loyalists to the Crown. As the war escalates, Octavian joins a Loyalist navy regiment that promises freedom to African Americans and enters into battle against the Patriots. Aside from a few essential interjections from others, Octavian narrates in the same graphic, challenging language used in the previous book, which Anderson has described as aunintelligible eighteenth-century Johnsonian Augustan prose. But readers need not grasp every reference in the rich, elegant tangle of dialects to appreciatethis piercing expos' of our countrys founding hypocrisies. Even more present in this volume are passionate questions, directly relevant to teens lives, aboutbasic human struggles for independence, identity, freedom, love, and the needto reconcile the past. Viewed through historical hindsight, Octavians final, wounded optimism (No other human generation hath done other than despoil, perhaps we shall be the first) will resonate strongly with contemporary teens.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2008, American Library Association.)

April 9, 2007
James's crisp annunciation and measured intonation is well-suited to the 18th-century language and phrasing Anderson employs in his fascinating, provocative Revolutionary War–era novel, winner of the 2006 National Book Award for Young People's Literature and also a 2007 Printz Honor Book. As young Octavian's story slowly (sometimes too slowly) unfolds, the boy learns that he is a slave and that the scientists and philosophers with whom he and his mother (an African princess who was kidnapped by slave traders) live are studying them as part of an experiment to determine whether Africans are "a separate and distinct species." The ill-advised Pox Party of the title, during which the philosophers inoculate their guests against the scourge of smallpox, marks a dramatic turning point that sends Octavian's life journey in a new direction. There's no question the premise is intriguing and the examination of issues noble. However, the meaty subject matter and Anderson's numerous stylistic devices (e.g. the use of different points of view and letters in dialect from another character) render this a challenging listen even for a sophisticated audience. Ages 14-up.

September 11, 2006
Anderson (Whales on Stilts ) once again shows the breadth of his talents with this stunningly well-researched novel (the first of two planned) centering on 16-year-old Octavian. The author does not reveal the boy's identity right away, so by the time readers learn that he is the son of an African princess, living a life of relative privilege and intense scrutiny among a group of rational philosophers in pre\x96Revolutionary War Boston, they can accept his achievements\x97extraordinary for any teen, but especially for an African-American living at that time. These men teach him the violin, Latin and Greek. Anderson also reveals their strange quirks: the men go by numbers rather than names, and they weigh the food Octavian ingests, as well as his excrement. "It is ever the lot of children to accept their circumstances as universal, and their particularities as general," Octavian states by way of explanation. One day, at age eight, when he ventures into an off-limits room, Octavian learns he is the subject of his teachers' "zoological" study of Africans. Shortly thereafter, the philosophers' key benefactor drops out and new sponsors, led by Mr. Sharpe, follow a different agenda: they want to use Octavian to prove the inferiority of the African race. Mr. Sharpe also instigates the "Pox Party" of the title, during which the guests are inoculated with the smallpox virus, with disastrous results. Here the story, which had been told largely through Octavian's first-person narrative, advances through the letters of a Patriot volunteer, sending news to his sister of battle preparations against the British and about the talented African musician who's joined their company. As inFeed , Anderson pays careful attention to language, but teens may not find this work, written in 18th-century prose, quite as accessible. The construction of Octavian's story is also complex, but the message is straightforward, as Anderson clearly delineates the hypocrisy of the Patriots, who chafe at their own subjugation by British overlords but overlook the enslavement of people like Octavian. Ages 14-up.

January 1, 2009
Octavian and Dr. Trefusis escape the College of Lucidity. Their flight takes them to Boston then Virginia, where Octavian enlists in Lord Dunmore's Ethiopian Regiment in exchange for promised freedom. As themes of servitude and liberty volley around Octavian's journals like cannon fire, readers are kept off-balance while grappling with complex vocabulary and sentence structure. An author's note fills in historical background.

(Copyright 2009 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)

September 1, 2008
In eighteen sentences, displayed with the aesthetics of a broadside, Anderson sums up the action of the first volume of Octavian Nothing (rev. 9/06), quickly moving readers into the events of the second, in which Octavian and his tutor, Dr. Trefusis, escape from the College of Lucidity. Their flight takes them through the mudflats, across a dismal, featureless plain, and through the surrounding waters to Boston. This heroic journey begins to define the epic quality of the novel, one that is strengthened by Octavian's observations, thoughts heightened by his philosophical training but impaired by his limited personal experiences. Their journey is as surreal as it is heroic: almost drowned by the incoming tide, Octavian and Dr. Trefusis are picked up by a mysterious ferryman whose face they never see; the Boston they arrive in, now occupied by the British, is equally surreal, with streets piled high with ruined furniture and soldiers farcically dressed as milkmaids. Thus readers are kept continually off-balance, while simultaneously grappling with the eighteenth-century vocabulary and complex sentence structure. But by the time Octavian and Dr. Trefusis make their way to Virginia -- where Octavian enlists with other slaves in Lord Dunmore's Ethiopian Regiment in exchange for freedom -- the book's momentum has become inexorable. As new recruits (including Pro Bono) join the regiment, each tells his heart-wrenching narrative of the middle passage, servitude, or freedom lost and yearned for. These themes volley around Octavian's journals like cannon fire: those fighting for the rights of man summarily exclude an entire race from their ideals, while those promising freedom do so for military expediency only. As Octavian concludes, "I saw that everything hath its price, and all are in fluctuation, no value solid, but all cost as they are appraised for use. How much...is a man's life worth?" A thoughtful author's note fills in historical background but also reiterates the concept of Liberty, "a quality so abstract as to be insubstantial -- and yet so real in its manifestations that it was worth dying for."

(Copyright 2008 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)