(2) YA Perspectives in this novel alternate among members of the Maghabol family from four different generations. In 1929, Francisco has recently emigrated from the Philippines to Watsonville, California, where he picks produce and eventually becomes a major labor organizer. In 1965, his son, Emil, has grown up without the presence of his constantly traveling father. Emil finds his way out of poverty by committing to academic and professional excellence. In 1983, Emil's son, Chris, struggles with pressures from his father, who expects him to assimilate and focus on school -- but a class project leads Chris to uncover deep and difficult histories of the Philippines, which is met with Emil's disapproval. And in 2020, Chris's son Enzo witnesses the effects of generational differences, rifts, and trauma when his grandfather moves in with the family as a precaution at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. In addition to exploring complex father-son relationships, Ribay takes the reader on a journey through Filipino American history, from the Manong Generation (young, single men who came to the U.S. in the early twentieth century) to the rise of anti-Asian hate crimes in 2020. A brief historical note and resources are appended.

Reviewer: Gabi K. Huesca | Horn Book Magazine Issue: September, 2024

(1) YA In tracing the battle for equal pay and equal treatment waged by the United States Women's National Team against the U.S. Soccer Federation, Rusch (The 21: The True Story of the Youth Who Sued the U.S. Government Over Climate Change, rev. 11/23) pulls off quite a feat: she keeps readers riveted by edge-of-their-seats descriptions of individual World Cup and Olympic games while educating them about gender bias, Title IX, the effects of concussion, contract negotiations, grass versus turf fields, class action lawsuits, and more. The book proceeds chronologically, from the Women's National Team's 1985 creation (with players like Julie Foudy and Mia Hamm, who were told that it was enough just to play for their country); through 1999 when the team won the World Cup (notorious for Brandi Chastain's post-win sports-bra celebration) but the women made about $15,000 apiece; to the early 2000s with the entry of players like Abby Wambaugh, Megan Rapinoe, and Alex Morgan, fierce fighters both on and off the pitch; and ultimately to 2022 when, after protracted and brave efforts, pay parity between the men's and women's national teams was finally achieved. For such a thorough and comprehensive account, the telling is remarkably lively, peppered throughout with (uncensored) quotes and memorable descriptions (Rapinoe is the "firecracker forward with pink-dyed hair") and filled with drama, sheroes, and villains; even granular descriptions of legal proceedings are compelling. Impressive front and back matter include a list of major characters, a diagram of a soccer field outlining basic positions, an extensive bibliography, and twenty-six pages of source notes. Index unseen.

Reviewer: Martha V. Parravano | Horn Book Magazine Issue: November, 2024

(2) YA West Virginia, the Mountain State, is also historically known for both coal mining and Appalachian poverty. Watkins explores the nexus between them in this overlooked chapter in the history of the labor movement. By the early twentieth century, West Virginia had emerged as a cheap source of coal, in large part because capitalism allowed wealthy mine owners to exploit workers. Coal mining was dangerous, the hours were long, the conditions deplorable, and the pay minimal -- often paid in scrip, currency accepted only at the company store. The tension between mine owners and labor unions came to a head in 1920 during the Matewan Massacre and in 1921 during the Battle of Blair Mountain. Watkins introduces the major players and aptly delineates the causes and effects of these bloody and violent events. He reflects on how this history has been erased from books on West Virginia, a history that could have served as a source of pride in resistance. He concludes with a discussion of the current state of coal mining, still a mainstay of the area's economy despite mounting national pressure to move away from fossil fuels. Numerous black-and-white photographs ably support the text, while sources, notes, and an index are appended.

Reviewer: Jonathan Hunt | Horn Book Magazine Issue: July, 2024

(1) K-3 Illustrated by Victoria Tentler-Krylov. In this engaging and child-friendly overview of Fasanella's (1914-1997) life and evolution as a self-taught, working-class artist, Broyles highlights the man's "rambunctious," resilient, and independent nature, even as a child. His hard-working Italian immigrant parents had limited resources and a large family to care for. As a boy, Fasanella accompanied his father as he delivered blocks of ice through the tenements of New York City. He listened to his factory-worker mother as she shared her strong beliefs about unionizing to improve working conditions. He was in and out of a Catholic reform school and worked odd jobs throughout the Great Depression before joining a union and learning to paint in his early thirties. He honed his craft and found his voice in his visual representations of family, baseball, and daily existence. He also documented momentous events (the March on Washington, the Kennedy assassination) and their impact on Americans, saying that "any good painting is a social statement" and that "art and politics can't be separated." Tentler-Krylov's dynamic watercolors bring her subject to life in small vignettes at various stages of the times and also place him in boldly colored, expansive scenes that pay homage to Fasanella's distinctive style. Well-researched back matter includes a timeline of events that are referenced in Fasanella's paintings, numerous reprints, and a listing of where to see more of the artist's work. A perfect companion to Levinson's The People's Painter (rev. 7/21), a picture-book biography of Ben Shahn.

Reviewer: Luann Toth | Horn Book Magazine Issue: September, 2023

(2) 4-6 Illustrated by Lauren Child. In July 1888, women and girls working at a match factory in East London went on strike to protest dangerous working conditions and poor pay. Carroll takes the story of this significant event in labor history and uses it as the armature for her own version of Hans Christian Andersen's weeper "The Little Match Girl." Carroll's little match-seller has a name, Bridie, and a strong voice, luring customers with stories and outrageous patter. Her whole family is in the match trade, her mother in the factory, herself on the frigid streets selling, and her small brother at home fashioning match boxes. Like her nameless original, Bridie experiences visions, but unlike her predecessor she turns these visions into social action and survives to tell her tale. The mash-up of history and Andersen-tale works beautifully, especially on the metaphorical level with light, enlightenment, warmth, and energy battling it out against darkness, ignorance, chill, and despair. Child's illustrations, collages in black, gray, and red with a rich use of pattern, incorporate text at certain points to create an arresting, graphically dynamic page. Serve this up with Pinkney's lushly illustrated picture-book edition of the Andersen and with Maguire's Matchless for a feast of Victoriana and an invitation to discuss child poverty, capitalism, and the power of organized labor.`

Reviewer: Sarah Ellis | Horn Book Magazine Issue: November, 2023

(1) 4-6 In this lyrical verse novel set in 1965 California, Lula has lost her voice. She can only speak in "a whispery rasp" that doesn't help when she has to call out in the fields where she picks grapes with her family of migrant workers. It doesn't help when her father becomes angry and accuses her of not doing her part for the family's survival. And it doesn't help when there is danger and she needs to protect her siblings. With a stronger voice, she would make her case for attending school, but now that her mother has been stricken by a mysterious illness, that's not possible. When the exploited farmworkers start organizing and a woman named Dolores Huerta urges them to strike, things begin changing. Will her father be receptive to these ideas? Will her mother get medical assistance? Will Lula and her siblings return to school? Salazar seamlessly combines historical events of the farmworkers' rights movement and the 1965 Delano grape strike with a sensitive portrayal of a girl trying to make sense of the world. It's a powerful coming-of-age story filled with evocative language, memorable characters, and apt nature imagery. A lengthy author's note tells more about what Salazar calls "one of the greatest labor justice movements undertaken in United States history."

Reviewer: Alicia K. Long | Horn Book Magazine Issue: November, 2022

(1) 4-6 Evicted from their Oklahoma farm in the midst of the Dust Bowl, the Willard family strikes out for California looking for work as migrant pickers. Scrappy Gloria Mae, the youngest child, tells the story, and Schrempp admirably never wavers from her perspective. Not fully understanding the scope of their circumstances, Gloria resents the move and the loss of all she knows, particularly her dream of playing baseball. She's good enough; even Pa admits, "You got the arm of a boy twice your size." When they arrive at a California peach orchard, they encounter despicable conditions: an unsafe working environment, low pay, squalid housing, and long hours. To quash dissent, managers intimidate the workers, forbidding group meetings, locking down the compound, and increasing police presence. For Gloria these are only background issues (she thinks that the forbidden "organizing" has something to do with arranging peaches); she has discovered the existnce of a baseball team at the orchard and vows to play. After a child is seriously injured in the orchard, Pa, who previously avoided all conflict, now believes that a strike is the only option for better working conditions. Gloria's struggles to join the team and her father's desire for change coalesce in Ma's words: "When you don't fight for what you deserve, the world just digs its heel into you a little bit more." An informative author's note adds historical context.

Reviewer: Betty Carter | Horn Book Magazine Issue: November, 2022

(2) YA Cherry, a town in north-central Illinois, had seemingly sprung up overnight once several veins of coal were discovered; most residents were recent immigrants. Walker opens her solid account by providing background about mining, immigration, and coal before getting to the events of November 13, 1909, when the Cherry Mine fire started after kerosene from a torch began dripping onto bales of hay. While many miners escaped, a good number remained trapped, waiting to be rescued. The narrative splits at this point, alternating between the miners' harrowing efforts to survive and the people waiting impatiently aboveground for news. Rescue efforts were complicated by the mine conditions: the temperature remained too hot, the air too poisonous, and embers smoldered, waiting to rekindle at any moment. Miraculously, a small group of men was rescued a week later, but the mine was then shut down for several months before the bodies of the dead could be recovered. While Walker draws attention to the corporate greed that led to unfair working conditions, including child labor, readers may also recognize some contemporary parallels to this story, including the rescue of thirty-three Chilean miners in 2010 (see Scott's Buried Alive!, rev. 7/12) and twelve Thai boys and their soccer coach in 2018 (see Soontornvat's All Thirteen, rev. 9/20). An assortment of maps, diagrams, and photographs accompanies the main text, while source notes, bibliography, and an index are appended.

Reviewer: Jonathan Hunt | Horn Book Magazine Issue: September, 2022

(3) 4-6 Over six engrossing chapters, Sandler covers monumental events in the year 1919, including Boston's Great Molasses Flood, the passing of the Nineteenth Amendment, race riots, communist scares, labor battles, and Prohibition. Significant people and happenings of the time are also highlighted, along with relevant historical changes set into motion by these 1919 events. Photographs and topic-specific timelines throughout enhance the text. Reading list, websites. Bib., ind.

Reviewer: Kristy Pasquariello

(3) K-3 Illustrated by R. Gregory Christie. The 1968 Memphis Sanitation Strike is not often covered in picture books, despite its being Dr. King's final march before his assassination. In a poignant mix of poetry and prose, fictional child Lorraine Jackson shares her family's story of resistance as she helped her sanitation-worker father fight for fair wages and safer working conditions. Christie's rich gouache paintings illustrate the honest portrayal of an intense historical moment. Timeline. Bib.

Reviewer: Monique Harris

(2) YA Mexico-native Juan and his fellow undocumented workers in the U.S. are not being paid minimum wage or receiving benefits, although they work grueling hours, so they file a legal complaint for just compensation. This profound and timely human odyssey effectively uses an accordion-folded format inspired by Mixtec codices and employs many sequential and Mixtec art conventions. The direct and conversational text includes a smattering of Spanish words throughout.

Reviewer: Monica Tapia Boyer | Horn Book Magazine Issue: January, 2019

(2) YA A mysterious glow-in-the-dark painting links modern-day teen Julie to Lydia and her sisters, in 1917–18, as they work at a factory that produces luminous watch faces, unaware that the paint they use causes radiation poisoning. This parallel narrative gives Julie's conventional YA romance story an infusion of originality. The historical background (expanded in an author's note) is intriguing, embracing chemistry, medicine, and labor and women's histories.

Reviewer: Sarah Ellis | Horn Book Magazine Issue: November, 2017

(2) YA Engle (The Poet Slave of Cuba and companions) tells of nineteenth-century Cuba's Chinese indentured workers through Antonio Chuffat, a Chinese African Cuban boy who wants desperately to help the laborers seeking freedom from the indenture system; through his job as a messenger, he learns firsthand that words have power. Engle again weaves fiction and fact to create a lyrical tale. Reading list. Bib.

Reviewer: Celia C. Perez | Horn Book Magazine Issue: July, 2016

(3) 4-6 Garment-factory seamstress Fannie Sellins became a leader of the labor movement and "an angel of mercy" for striking workers' families. She was killed in 1919 when police turned clubs and rifles against protesters. Farrell relates the story of this extraordinary activist with deft pacing and relatable anecdotes; an engaging layout includes copious photos and primary source clippings. Reading list, timeline, websites. Bib., glos., ind.

Reviewer: Katie Bircher

(3) K-3 Pebble Books: Great Hispanic and Latino Americans series. The goals and achievements of prominent Latino and Hispanic Americans are highlighted in this accessible series, though this heritage is mentioned in passing if at all. Well-chosen photographs combine with a level-appropriate amount of information focusing on each subject's early education and the influences that led to careers and accomplishments. The simple, pointed prose will appeal to new readers. Reading list, timeline. Glos., ind. Review covers the following Pebble Books: Great Hispanic and Latino Americans titles: Cesar Chavez, Ellen Ochoa, and Sonia Sotomayor.

Reviewer: Kristy Pasquariello

(3) K-3 CitizenKid series. Illustrated by Felicita Sala. This historical picture book introduces activist "Mother" Jones, who in 1903 led an over-one-hundred-mile march to President Theodore Roosevelt's summer home to protest child labor. Focusing on fictional eight-year-old Aidan, a cotton mill worker, the long days of walking, camping out, and rallying are portrayed as an adventurous undertaking that shed light on children's rights. Old-timey paintings capture grandmotherly Jones's feistiness. Author's note appended. Websites.

Reviewer: Rita Soltan

(3) 4-6 Tyme series. Ella will do anything to revolutionize the unjust garment factories that worked her mother to death--even forming an unlikely alliance with a prince struggling to recover from a curse and a fairy godfather who's almost forgotten how to care. Morrison's second fairy-tale revisioning (Grounded), here of "Cinderella," is bursting with originality and emotionally complex characters in a richly developed, nuanced world.

Reviewer: Siena Leslie

(4) K-3 Zoom In on Legendary Leaders series. These titles offer a superficial first glance at the lives of six influential leaders (all male), their accomplishments/impact on others, and their place in history. The historical photos, paintings, and drawings add depth to brief texts that align to Common Core Standards. Appended lists of quick stats and key dates may be helpful when writing reports. Glos., ind. Review covers the following Zoom In on Legendary Leaders titles: Abraham Lincoln, Barack Obama, Cesar Chavez, George Washington, Mahatma Gandhi, and Nelson Mandela.

Reviewer: Nancy Sheridan

(4) K-3 Cub Reporter Meets Famous Americans series. Illustrated by Doug Jones. Cub Reporter "interviews" American figures who overcame challenges to achieve their goals. Each subject responds to simplistic questions about his or her complicated life (e.g., "Were you ever afraid?" in Tubman) in a hokey first-person voice. Cartoons of a microphone-holding bear cub alternate with captioned photos or illustrations that extend information. The premise may work for reluctant readers. Reading list, timeline, websites. Glos., ind. Review covers these Cub Reporter Meets Famous Americans titles: What's Your Story, Harriet Tubman?, What's Your Story, Abraham Lincoln?, What's Your Story, Cesar Chavez?, What's Your Story, Helen Keller?.

Reviewer: Rita Soltan

(3) YA This gripping historical verse novel is based on the life of Clara Lemlich, a Russian Jewish immigrant who worked tirelessly to help unionize and establish rights for fellow young women factory employees in the early twentieth century. Clara's driven and emotional voice radiates strength amid her doubts, fears, conflicts, and conviction to create a more equal world for women.

Reviewer: Rita Soltan