Friday, April 24, 2009

Blogging Book Goal- Book #13

Now, I am not sure if this book technically counts, because it is a Young Adult book, but it is by my favorite children's/YA author, so I just had to read it!



It is a wonderful historical fiction book, that is excellently researched! I loved it! I started reading it last fall, and only got 15 pages into before putting it down. But I picked it up on Monday, and read through the whole thing in two days!

The story is based on the true story of the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Strike in 1909, the first of its kind. The immigrant girls, who were working for less than a dollar a day, were being locked into the factory in a high rise in NYC. They would work the whole week, then their supervisors would make up reasons for why their pay was docked. The factory was really dangerous because of being locked in, poor circulation, and plenty of tinder laying around.

As you can guess, in 1911, a fire was started on the 8th floor of the building, and, with hardly any way to escape, over 120 people were killed in that factory, making it the worse work place disaster until 9/11/2001.

The book takes the viewpoint of 2 immigrant girls, and one wealthy American girl, and rotates between all of them, until their tales are entwined. I love how Mrs. Haddix mixes the different cultures and the historical facts into this excellently written book.

Though this book is usually not shelved in your average bookstore, when you go in, you can ask any associate to have it ordered for you, and, at least at B0rders, they would order it for free! A great book with an excellent afternote by the author, going deep into the actual facts, and recommending more resources on the subject.

3 comments:

katie said...

This sounds excellent! And it totally counts, young adult book or not...

You always seem to pick interesting books to read. You're increasing my reading list with each new post!

Anonymous said...

Sounds like a cool book to read! I just found your blog and the title of it caught my eye! :D blessings~

Unknown said...

I am not usually into books like these but the way you describe has tempted me :) xx.