Uprising

This is a literary masterpiece. It is exactly what I have in mind when I go to the library or the bookstore looking for a "good" book to read. It is just phenomenal. It captures the girls' personalities in a way that makes them so believable and real. And I found my eyes welling up so many times throughout the book as I shared in their hopes and dreams. Even though the book is marketed as being of middle-school reading level, being a law school grad I didn't find it to be childishly written or anything of the sort. Quite the opposite, I was entranced from beginning to end. The plot centers around three girls, each from different stations in life, who unite and become friends while struggling with the horrors of the shirtwaist factory and the confines of proper ladylike behavior during the turn of the century. If you never read another book the rest of the year, you must read this one. You simply must.

I found this book when looking through the new books on the library shelf. I am a history buff, so when the cover said it was about an event that changed US history, I thought, why not! I started it and couldn't put it down. I read it straight through and LOVED EVERY MINUTE OF IT!!!! I came to school the next day telling my partner teacher about the book and how I hadn't even heard of the event before. She said that she hadn't either until a few years ago she read an amazing book titled Ashes of Roses by Mary Jane Auch on the same subject. So, needless to say we swapped books! Haddix does a wonderful job of taking you into the lives and times of three girls (fictional) involved in the fire. She does a wonderful job of bringing in history, and making you want to research and know more after the book is over. She brings in so much of the history surrounding this incident also, including the union strike, and the women suffragist movement. Truly a captivating book!

Written for a teen-aged audience, Uprising by Margaret Haddix is an historically accurate and informative book that adults too will find captivating. Set in 1910-11 New York City it tells the story of three girls from various social strata's who are brought together by an unusual set of circumstances. Chapters alternate between each of the girls and the reader gains an understanding of the plight of factory workers subjected to low wages and unsafe working conditions from the individual perspectives of each of the narrators. In this eye-opening saga based on real events the workers organize and strike for better pay and safer working conditions at the Triangle Shirt Factory, but it is only a disasterous fire at the factory that costs the lives of hundreds of people that ultimately brings changes to the American labor movement and gives birth to organized unions. History coupled with tales of friendship, loyalty and love brings humanity and reality to the story of Bella, Yetta and Jane and provides an understanding of what it took to survive in the sweat shops of the early 1900's. This masterfully crafted presentation of one of the worst workplace disasters in our history should be on everyones "must read" list.

I've always enjoyed Margaret Peterson Haddix's work, and when I saw that she was tackling the story of the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire, I suspected she might be up to the challenge. I was correct -- Haddix deftly weaves the story of three girls of very different backgrounds, who all share the common thread of the Triangle factory. Bella is a poor girl from Italy, who speaks no English and is at the mercy of the "padrones" and others who would take advantage of her. Yetta fled the Russian shtetls, escaping before she was killed in one of the violent pogroms. Jane is from a life of wealth and privilege, and finds herself involved with the other two girls simply because she's tired of being ornamental and useless. The three come together in the New York City of 1910, and their story unfolds against the backdrop of the industrial revolution. Women's suffrage, immigrants' rights, and union rebellion are their New York, and when fire erupts in an unsafe building, tragedy ensues. Through it all, Haddix has you feeling the desperation of these girls, involved in a disaster that changed the face of American industry. The last four chapters in particular are heartbreakingly beautiful, and by the time you finish the book you'll have a whole new appreciation for the nameless and faceless girls who helped form our nation a hundred years ago.

This is a great book for all ages, it gives me a good sense about what happened and really how hard it was for women and their rights, and also working conditions. This is one of the many great books by Magaret Peterson Haddix. You'll fall in love with the characters immedietly, very suspenceful and has a great moral to it. Hope you enjoy!