The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing: Traitor to the Nation; Vol. 1: The Pox Party

Anderson, M. T. (2006). The astonishing life of Octavian Nothing: Traitor to the nation; Vol. 1: The pox party. Cambridge, MA: Candlewick Press. ISBN-10: 0-7636-2402-0

Why read this book
The son of an enslaved African princess, Octavian spends his first 11 years living in a community of scientific gentlemen in colonial Boston with all the privileges of a classical education. But as the colonies head into the War of Independence, the horrors of enslavement engulf his life and lead him to question whether his own road to liberty will lead him to fight for the patriots or for the British.

Plot summary
Octavian’s mother’s beauty and intelligence have gained them a privileged life in a scientific community in colonial Boston. Octavian learns Greek, Latin, and classical European music, and his mother is the center of the community’s social world. But when Octavian is 11 the death of the household patron sets in motion a series of events that expose Octavian and his mother to the horrors more typical of enslaved Africans at that time and place. As political events in the colonies build toward the Revolutionary War, Octavian and the reader must wrestle with the contradictions in the calls for liberty that come from colonists who deny the same liberty to their slaves. Should Octavian side with the patriots, some of whom support the abolition of slavery, or with the British, the enemies of the slave masters? (Readers will find Octavian’s answer to that question in the second volume in this series, The Kingdom on the Waves.)

Critical evaluation
A recipient of both the National Book Award (2006) and a Printz Honor Book Award (2007), Octavian Nothing is a well-written story that explores important issues from a perspective not often seen in traditional historical narratives. Not only is Octavian an enslaved African American caught up in the debate over independence and personal liberty as the Revolutionary War approaches, but his unusual early life of privilege and classical education in a community of Enlightenment scientists means that his experience is not diminished by a life defined by slavery alone. Having once lived up to the high expectations of those around him, Octavian’s sullenness, rebelliousness, and dysfunctionality after he comes to be treated like a slave read as resistance to injustice rather than innate personal failings. Plot, character development, and narrator’s voice are carefully employed to develop this understanding. A parallel theme to these insights into social influences on the development of personal identity involves a critique of the scientific method, which is usually portrayed to high school students as an objective pursuit of truth. In Octavian’s story, the ways in which the political and economic needs of his owners shape their scientific investigation of his intellectual capabilities helps readers see the subjective nature of the choices that frame inquiry of any kind.

About the author
Matthew Tobin Anderson was born in 1968. Of his youth in Stow, Massachusetts, he has said: “I had what I think of as a good Transcendentalist New England upbringing. … We lived on a street with nine houses, in this massive forest that had not been developed. It took 20 minutes to drive to my friends' houses, so I spent a lot of time alone, learning to imagine things in those woods” (1)

Anderson received his undergraduate degree from Cambridge University in Cambridge, England. He earned an M.A. in creative writing from Syracuse University and currently lives in Cambridge, MA.

In addition to Volume 2 of The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Anderson’s other young adult novels include Burger Wuss (2008), Feed (2002), and Thirsty (1997). He has also written a number of books for younger readers, including The Clue of the Linoleum Lederhosen (2006), Me, All Alone, at the End of the World (2005), Whales on Stilts (2005), The Serpent Came to Gloucester (2005), The Game of Sunken Places (2004), Strange Mr. Satie (2003), and Handel, Who Knew What He Liked (2001).

Genre: Historical fiction, African American

Curriculum ties
• U.S. history — Octavian Nothing addresses a question that bugs many high school history students, which is how English colonists reconciled (or didn’t) sincere desires for their own liberty with the continued enslavement of African Americans. As with many topics in U.S. history, the presentation of an African American perspective complicates the traditional narrative in ways that require students to think more deeply about the concepts.

• Modern world history and the history of science — The first section of the book, “The Transit of Venus,” provides concrete examples what the Scientific Revolution and the Enlightenment looked like in colonial North America. This narrative description of scientists at work is a good supplement to the somewhat dry descriptions of the scientific discoveries and political theories that standard textbooks provide.

• Science — Octavian Nothing calls in to question the concept of scientific objectivity as it is usually explained in science classes. The shift in the story’s scientific experiment from seeing how much an African American child can learn to demonstrating the limitations of the child’s capacity reveals how political motivations can shape what is being studied and learned in scientific work.

Book-talking ideas
• This is a book that shows why it’s so important to pay attention to the history of African Americans and other people of color whose stories are often left out of the textbooks. The meaning of liberty to the “founding fathers” of our country gets a lot more interesting when we add in the perspective of a young boy who is held in slavery by these promoters of their own liberty from Great Britain.

• This book has something to say about the achievement gap among students in our own school district today. When Octavian is supported and encouraged to be a great student, he’s a great student. When different people take charge of his education and presume limits on what he can learn, Octavian becomes a bad student in their eyes. Have any of you ever felt that difference from teachers in your life?

Reading level/interest age
I agree with author M. T. Anderson that Octavian Nothing is most appropriate for older teens (2). The archaic language, which attempts to imitate 18th century Bostonians, and the diversity of narrative voices, which includes scientific reports and letters written by various characters as well Octavian’s first-person narrative, might be difficult for readers younger than 14 to follow. On the other hand, there are no sexual situations in the book, and the descriptions of disease and slavery are not gratuitous or sensationalized. Furthermore, in California public schools, the American Revolution is studied most deeply during the 8th grade, which suggests that 13-year-olds might also be an appropriate audience for Octavian’s story.

Challenge issues
• Octavian Nothing challenges the generally promoted notion that the nation’s founding fathers were ardent champions of liberty whose heroism on our behalf should be honored above all else. Thus some might object that it is too subversive to be promoted among impressionable teenagers.

• Some might object that raising the idea that African Americans were potential allies with the British against the colonists reinforces the lingering tendency to exclude African Americans from the body politic and isolate them from the American mainstream.

Responses
• Remind the challenger of the policy (in the case of the San Francisco Public Library) to present “all points of view on current and historical issues. Materials should not be proscribed or removed because of partisan or doctrinal disapproval.”
• Inform the challenger that the book is regarded as generally historically accurate.
• Direct the challenger to the list on the publisher’s Web site of awards the book has received (http://www.candlewick.com/bookxtras.asp?isbn=0763624020&view=xtras).

Why I chose to read this book
A friend who is a high school librarian recommended Octavian Nothing as one of her favorite recent young adult titles, and Jonathan Hunt’s discussion of the book in a recent Horn Book article (3) further whetted my appetite. As a high school history teacher, I am especially interested in historical fiction.


Footnotes
(1) Mehegan, D. (2006, December 19). Like his protagonist, he’s a character study. The Boston Globe. Retrieved August 30, 2009 from http://www.boston.com/ae/books/articles/2006/12/19/like_his_protagonists_hes_a_character_study/?page=1

(2) Chideya, F. (2007, January 29). Author M.T. Anderson on “Octavian Nothing.” NPR. Retrieved August 30, 2009, from http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=7060904

(3) Hunt, J. (2007, March/April). Redefiing the young adult novel. Horn Book, 141-147.