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March 25, 2011 marks the 100th anniversay of the tragic Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire that left 146 people dead in a little over 15 minutes.

Our showcase this month features two books about this event, both written by Suzanne Lieurance. One, The Triangle Shirtwaist Fire and Sweatshop Reform is a nonfiction account of the fire and its aftermath. The other, The Locket: Surviving the Triangle Shirtwaist Fire, is a historical novel based on this event.

If you’ve read either of these books, talk about them with us here by leaving a comment. When you do, your name will be entered in this week’s Book Giveaway.

Reviewed by Carma Dutra

Title: The Locket, Surviving the Triangle Shirtwaist Fire
Author: Suzanne Lieurance
Hardcover: 160 pages
Cover Illustration: Original Painting by Corey Wolfe
Ages: 9 - 12
Publisher: Enslow Publishers, Inc.
ISBN 13: 978-0-7660-2928-6
ISBN-10: 0-7660-2928-X

The Locket, Surviving the Triangle Shirtwaist Fire is a historical novel written for ages 9 to 12. It tells the story of Galena, an eleven-year-old Russian-Jewish immigrant who lives in New York City in 1911 with her family and works at the Triangle Shirtwaist Company factory with her older sister, Anya. The factory pays low wages, has horrendous working conditions and employs underage children like Galena.

In the early 1900’s, joining the union is a dangerous thing to do, but Anya longs to improve working conditions for abused workers. Soon a horrible fire erupts and destroys the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory and shatters a young girl’s dream.

Author Suzanne Lieurance weaves together the fictional and non-fictional aspects of this historical story with ease. By blending dramatic factual accounts of a historical event with realistic fictional characters, Lieurance brings the reader inside the ill-fated factory. Lieurance’s account is truly a step back in time to understand how a young Jewish immigrant girl uses the support of her Jewish traditions, family and friends for inspiration to fight for workers’ rights.

The Locket also has an educator’s guide available for teachers and parents. This guide is a fantastic supplement with additional reading suggestions, discussion questions and other activities.

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Carma Dutra is a children’s writer. She offers author interviews, book reviews, writing tips, and other information for fellow children writers at her blog.

 

Here's another poetry book not yet nominated for a Cybils.

Over the past few days, I've read Poems in Black & White, by Kate Miller (Wordsong, 2007) two times. It's filled with the kinds of poems that stay with me, that pop into my head at odd moments throughout the day.

The premise is simple. The poems are all about objects that are black and white: cows, a black cat behind white curtains, a comet, etc. The poems are free verse, though there's plenty of near rhyme and wonderful rhythm.

One of my favorite poems is "Comet," which is also the poem featured on the back cover:

Comet

    A swirling smudge
              of luminescent white
 it flings a dusty tail
              of blurry light
          across
the neatly ordered sky--
   a tease
         of breezy
               imperfection--
                   as if some
                          impish thumb
                                  had smeared
                                       a star
                                              before 
                                                       the night
                                                                had dried


The art for the book is also by Miller (I'm so jealous of a poet/illustrator!). It's, of course, all in black and white, and a fascinating end note describes how Miller makes the monotype illustrations. Amazing!

The poems in this book are serious, funny, melancholy...a wide range. But they are marked by a keen sense of observation of life. I felt like each poem was truly a frozen moment in which the poet saw things with great clarity and then expressed that moment painstakingly.

Here's another one I love:

First Steps

when you were new
just minutes old
and baby bare
they caught your
pedaling feet
just long enough
to ink them black
and press their prints
upon a glossy sheet
of pearl-white paper

two tapered soles
of elfin size
creased with lines
unique to you that
mark you mine
ten rounded toes
like stepping stones
left and right
a perfect pair
adventure bound

Isn't that wonderful? If you haven't yet made your poetry nomination for the Cybils, I hope you'll read this book! If you love it, then please consider nominating it for a Cybils.