At the dingy, overcrowded Acme Garment Factory, Emily Watson stands for eleven hours a day clipping threads from blouses. Every time the boss passes, he shouts at her to snip faster. But if Emily snips too fast, she could ruin the garment and be docked pay. If she works too slowly, she will be fired. She desperately needs this job. Without the four dollars a week it brings, her family will starve. When a reporter arrives, determined to expose the terrible conditions in the factory, Emily finds herself caught between the desperate immigrant girls with whom she works and the hope of change. Then tragedy strikes, and Emily must decide where her loyalties lie.
Emily's fictional experiences are interwoven with non-fiction sections describing family life in a slum, the fight to improve social conditions, the plight of working children then and now, and much more. Rarely seen archival photos accompany this story of the past as only Barbara Greenwood can tell it.
"This compelling look at child labor is interspersed with excellent photographs and detailed information about this troubling time in our nation's history. Greenwood describes not only the poverty that Emily and her family experience, but also explains its causes and hints at its cure.... [T]his title is sure to spur discussion of many contemporary movements, including immigration, women's and worker's rights, and health care reform, but be aware that it is classified as fiction." --School Library Journal
Recommended Age | 9 - 13 |
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Author | Barbara Greenwood |
ISBN | 1553376498 |
Publication Date | Feb 1, 2007 |
Publisher | Kids Can Press |
Language | English |