(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

(2) YA Brimner's comprehensive history recounts the movement for better wages and working conditions among migrant farm workers in the Southwest, from California's burgeoning need for farm workers in the twentieth century to the story of César Chávez, the United Farm Workers of America, and the Delano grape workers' strike. The compelling narrative includes both textual and visual primary sources. Reading list, timeline, websites. Ind.

Reviewer: Jonathan Hunt | Horn Book Magazine Issue: September, 2014

(3) 4-6 Fact Finders: What Went Wrong? series. This brief overview of the tragic Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire contains a wealth of gripping details. The swift narrative begins with the blaze that ultimately killed 146 people, and ends with the development of new laws regulating working conditions. Eerie black-and-white photos of structural damage and victims illustrate the magnitude of the destruction, while sidebars expand on the information. Reading list. Glos., ind.

Reviewer: Shara Hardeson

(4) 4-6 "This book is about the story of garbage in...Memphis, Tennessee--and the lives of the men tasked with collecting it." Bausum's well-researched history traces events in 1968 Memphis, beginning with a sanitation workers' strike and culminating with Martin Luther King Jr.'s assassination. Though the busy design is distracting, the plentiful, well-captioned (unnecessarily tinted) photos extend the compelling narrative. Reading list, timeline, websites. Bib., ind.

Reviewer: Henrietta M. Smith

(3) YA Social Issues in Literature series. Each collection features at least eighteen essays reprinted from a variety of sources, including academic journals and popular periodicals. The articles explore the author's life, thematic issues in his work, and contemporary perspectives on related topics. Lists of thematically similar novels in addition to discussion questions further deepen the material. Reading list, timeline. Bib., ind. Review covers these Social Issues in Literature titles: Male and Female Roles in Ernest Hemingway's The Sun Also Rises[c1], Industrialism in John Steinbeck's The Grapes of Wrath, Women's Issues in Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter, and Workers' Rights in Upton Sinclair's The Jungle.