
One of our final two Dear Americas, drama and history meet in this moving diary of an Italian immigrant girl who works in a shirtwaist factory in New York, as the labor unions begin to organize. Angela and her family have arrived in New York City from their village in Italy to find themselves settled in a small tenement apartment on the Lower East Side. When her father is no longer able to work, Angela must leave school and work in a shirtwaist factory. Against the backdrop of the birth of the labor union movement in the early 1900s, Angela plays a part in the drama and turmoil that erupt as the workers begin to strike, protesting the terrible conditions in the sweatshops. And she records the horrors of the Triangle Factory fire and the triumphs and sorrows of the labor movement.
Author

I write nonfiction and historical fiction, picture books, and Golden Books. I speak at school, libraries, and conferences. I also love to garden and offer manuscript critiques. (Deborahhopkinson@yahoo.com) NEW books in 2023 include RACE AGAINST DEATH: The Greatest POW Rescue of WWII, which has three starred reviews; CINDERELLA AND A MOUSE CALLED FRED, illustrated by Caldecott Medalist Paul O. Zelinsky, which has a star from Kirkus; TRIM SETS SAIL and TRIM HELPS OUT, Junior Library Guild selections; THE PLOT to Kill a QUEEN and SMALL PLACES, CLOSE to HOME, a picture book inspired by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. I live in Oregon.