(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

(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

(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

(3) K-3 Benedict the bear's routine is upset when the bees in his backyard, tired of his extreme honey habit, go on strike. The story, as Benedict comes to understand the need for give-and-take, is infused with humor, and the textured illustrations reflect the cozy quality of Benedict's world--even when it's full of bees carrying picket signs.

Reviewer: Shoshana Flax

(3) 4-6 Middle school is hard for seventh grader Gregory (The 14 Fibs of Gregory K). Realizing that excessive homework doesn't leave time for the things he loves, like creative writing, Gregory goes on a homework strike; as Gregory researches the problem and civil disobedience, he discovers unexpected allies and a clever solution. Pincus has keen insights into early adolescence, and Gregory is a sympathetic hero.

Reviewer: Katrina Hedeen

(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

(4) 1-3 My Weirdest School series. Illustrated by Jim Paillot. When the teachers at Ella Mentry School strike for a coffee machine, substitutes are brought in to help. Of course, nothing at the school is normal, and neither are the substitutes. Desperate to get their old teachers and rules back, the students go on strike themselves. The madcap plot and black-and-white cartoon illustrations are over-the-top silly, just as series fans will expect.

Reviewer: Kari Allen

(3) YA Living in a world destroyed by famine and plague and forced to work munitions jobs unfit for teenagers, Colin and Ty have few comforts other than friendship. When they go on strike, they're joined by an unlikely ally: Lena, heiress to the munitions factory. This dystopian tale is anchored by vivid world-building and peopled with multi-dimensional characters who compel readers to root for the underdogs.

Reviewer: Jessica Bushore

(4) YA Horrors of History series. In 1914 Colorado, the National Guard killed twenty people (including women and children) during a coal miner strike. This novelization, which contains graphic details, struggles to accommodate facts into a smooth narrative, but readers will come away with a sense of the tragedy's scope. Archival photographs bring the story to life. An epilogue and author's note provide sources and separate fact from fiction.

Reviewer: Cyrisse Jaffee

(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 Sixteen-year-old Marla works at a powerful fashion house, choosing the next big (ridiculous) trends. Ivy is a pop superstar whose label controls her life. When Marla is unceremoniously demoted, she enlists Ivy's help in challenging the status quo to create a radical "eco-chic" trend. This debut teaches readers about issues of consumer waste and labor relations in an approachable, entertaining way.

Reviewer: Rachel L. Smith

(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

(4) K-3 Tired of being sheared ("Why are we always the ones?"), some sheep go on strike. This is Click, Clack, Moo by way of Animal Farm: the narrative, which is somewhat dense, includes the activist buzzwords "revolution," "demonstrators," and "police brutality." Not that this compromise-promoting book isn't a lot of fun: e.g., the illustration of the marchers and their adversaries is (bloodless) slapstick hilarity.

Reviewer: Nell Beram

(3) 4-6 Illustrated by Melissa Mendes. Tired of being overscheduled with everything from baseball to karate to cello, Jack decides to take a stand--or, rather, a seat on the couch--refusing to move until his parents relent. His protest soon draws media attention and divides his family and community. Many kids will relate to Jack's well-developed frustrations, and Mendes's simple line drawings capture the squabble humorously.

Reviewer: Aimee Chevrette Bear

(2) K-3 Illustrated by Melissa Sweet. In her simple but powerful text, Markel shows how multiple arrests, physical attacks, and misogyny failed to deter Clara Lemlich as she set off on her lifelong path as a union activist in the early twentieth century. Clara's story is accentuated by Sweet's vivid illustrations, many of which are presented on fabric scraps or torn paper with borders of machine stitching. Bib.

Reviewer: Monica Edinger | Horn Book Magazine Issue: January, 2013

(4) K-3 Illustrated by Robert Casilla. Dolores "asks each boss to pay the workers enough money for shoes and books and medicine." Warren uses straightforward sentences to explain labor leader Huerta's efforts to help farm workers and their families get a better life. Casilla's watercolor and pastel illustrations are thoughtful--sometimes to a fault, given the over-dramatization of emotion in the characters' faces. Reading list, timeline, websites.

Reviewer: Nell Beram

(4) K-3 History Speaks: Picture Books Plus Reader's Theater series. Illustrated by Jamel Akib. This series informs readers about specific events in American history through vignettes starring made-up or real characters. The texts, though easy to follow, include unconvincing invented dialogue. Illustrations of varying quality accompany the stories. Appended "Reader's Theater" sections provide room for further research, elaboration, and performance. The series could be useful in classrooms to engage reluctant historians. Reading list, websites. Bib., glos. Review covers these History Speaks titles: Annie Shapiro and the Clothing Workers' Strike, John Greenwood's Journey to Bunker Hill, and Lizzie Newton and the San Francisco Earthquake.

Reviewer: Ashleigh Finn

(3) YA Civil Rights Struggles Around the World series. These series entries address three struggles in the worldwide history of civil rights. Strong texts provide readers with essential background information on such topics as the ILGWU, apartheid, and Chinese government oppression; the activist movements' beginnings, confrontations, results, and significance within their nations' histories are then discussed. Many dynamic photographs illustrate the information-rich (if dense) volumes. Reading list, timeline, websites. Bib., glos., ind. Review covers these Civil Rights Struggles Around the World titles: We Stand as One, Open the Jail Doors--We Want to Enter, and Who Will Shout If Not Us?

Reviewer: Rita Soltan