Brave Girl: Clara and the Shirtwaist Makers Strike of 1909 by Michelle Markel

Brave Girl: Clara and the Shirtwaist Makers Strike of 1909 Reviews

• 
  Dave Schaafsma

  An inspirational picturebook about girls and social justice, the 2014 winner of the Jane Addams Children's Book Award for Younger Children about something that we all need to recall in these anti-union times: The Garment Worker's strike of 1909 in NYC, led by mostly young women and girls, some as young as 12, who were protesting unjust treatment and abuses of various kinds--incredible hours, ill treatment for lateness, anything--locked for twelve hours and more in buildings, with phenomenally low pay, and so on. Abuses that could only be addressed through non-violent protests and unionization. Clara gets hurt many times in the process, as did many others, but they prevailed.
  
  Te artwork helps propel the tale, with pencil and really lovely watercolors. It's a pretty straightforward tale, not that original in the telling, and one you know about, but this is for young kids, as a basis for important conversations about girl power, economic justice, history and the purpose for and need for unions.
• 
  Manybooks

  REVIEW OF THE KINDLE EDITION (and yes, the Kindle edition does seem to have a slightly different book title and the font sizes are definitely and once again a bit too annoyingly small for easy reading)
  
  Although Michelle Markel's Brave Girl: Clara Lemlich and the Shirtwaist Makers does indeed and certainly provide a very meticulously researched and enlightening general introduction to both the Shirtwaist Makers Strike of 1909 and also to the horrible and often incredibly dangerous working conditions which made this strike both necessary and also (at least in my opinion) absolutely justifiable and laudable in every conceivable way, with the full page bibliography at the back of Brave Girl: Clara Lemlich and the Shirtwaist Makers being a very much appreciated added bonus (and not to mention that the additional presented details about the garment industry also and definitely does very much expand on Clara Lemlich's personal story and as such also renders Brave Girl: Clara Lemlich and the Shirtwaist Makers much more universal in scope and not simply the account of one girl's bravery and courage to stand up for workers' rights and for better and less dangerous working conditions), the story itself, Michelle Markel's printed words, while indeed and certainly sufficiently inspiring and engaging, they have also felt just a trifle too simplistic, and with a to and for me generally overly optimistic tone of narrative voice.
  
  And yes, this inherent, unrelenting and always very much present in Brave Girl: Clara Lemlich and the Shirtwaist Makers optimism is why I have (as an older and more critical) reader not been quite as lastingly inspired by Clara Lemlich’s recounted story as I had thought I would be from the book title. For really, I just do not think that Michelle Markel has with and in her featured text ever sufficiently demonstrated and shown the always present dangers and threats that Clara Lemlich and the other striking shirtwaist makers were constantly facing due to their job actions (not just possible dismissal, but also and much more importantly so, the potential of being injured or even killed by the police, by the authorities), so that indeed, this all encompassing over-optimism and positivity just does not really sit all that well with me, as Brave Girl: Clara Lemlich and the Shirtwaist Makers should also and totally show and remind readers (or listeners) and intensely, passionately, descriptively so that Clara Lemlich was most definitely playing a very dangerous but nevertheless also totally and necessarily so game with her job actions and her advocating for and leading the Shirtwaist Makers Strike. And furthermore, the last sentence of the main textual body of Brave Girl: Clara Lemlich and the Shirtwaist Makers makes it appear as though ALL workers now enjoy safe working conditions and the like, and this is sadly not yet the case either (and on a global level).
  
  Combined with the fact that while I do tend to usually very much enjoy Melissa Sweet's artwork, in her accomapying illustrations for Brave Girl: Clara Lemlich and the Shirtwaist Makers, I have on a visual and aesthetic level often found Sweet's pictorial renderings of human figures and indeed in particular of Clara Lemlich kind of strangely proportioned (with in particular Clara Lemlich appearing as though she is from her facial features and her clothing considerably older than she is textually described by Michelle Markel as being and sometimes looking almost a bit dwarf like), albeit that I do still highly and very much enthusiastically and warmly recommend Brave Girl: Clara Lemlich and the Shirtwaist Makers, for me, three stars is the absolute maximum rating I will consider (even though my rating is definitely a high three stars, is actually more like three and a half stars if half stars were allowed on Goodreads).
• 
  Margo Tanenbaum

  Get a jump on Women's History Month with this new picture book about Clara Lemlich, a remarkable 20th century labor leader. Picture books about early 20th century Jewish women labor leaders are not exactly published every day in the picture book universe, so I was especially eager to read this new work, illustrated by award-winning illustrator Melissa Sweet, about Clara Lemlich, best known for organizing the shirtwaist makers' strike of 1909.
  
  We first meet Clara as she is arriving in the United States, part of the mass of immigrants. But Clara is different--she's "got grit, and she's going to prove it. Look out, New York!"
  
  Social justice is an overriding theme of this book, and we see through Clara's eyes the injustices of life in early 20th century America for the impoverished immigrants. "This was not the America she'd imagined." Girls are hired to make blouses for a few dollars a month, wages desperately needed to help support their families. Markel vividly describes the factories in just a few words--only two toilets, one sink, and three towels for 300 girls to share, and better not be a few minutes late or bleed on a piece of cloth if you've pricked your finger or you'll lose half a day's pay or even be fired.
  
  But little Clara Lemlich is not one to sit back and take it. She organizes strikes, and despite being arrested repeatedly, and beaten, she is not easily silenced. But she realizes that a general strike of all the garment workers is what's needed to make the bosses stand up and take notice, and at a union meeting, she calls for women to launch the largest walk-out ever.
  
  Clara is the leader of the Revolt of the Girls, as the newspapers call it. And eventually the owners meet some of their demands, including a shortened work week and better wages. Markel ends her elegie to Lemlich on a hopeful note, emphasizing how Clara's actions helped thousands of workers. "proving that in America, wrongs can be righted, warriors can wear skirts and blouses, and the bravest hearts may beat in girls only five feet tall."
  
  An afterword provides further details about the history of the garment industry, and the role of Jewish immigrants in the business. Strangely enough, Clara is never identified as Jewish in the main text of the book, although she is shown shouting in Yiddish for a general strike. Back matter also includes a selected bibliography of general and primary sources. I would have also liked to have seen something on Clara Lemlich's later life. For example, she continued advocating for the oppressed her entire life, even helping to organize nursing home orderlies in the retirement home where she spent the end of her life.
  
  Melissa Sweet's remarkable illustrations integrate the garment industry in a very literal fashion into her depiction of Clara's life. She uses watercolor, gouache, and mixed media, and pieces of fabric and sewing machine stitching are front and center in nearly every illustration. Some of the illustrations are particularly moving, including the one in which rows and rows of factory workers are shown from directly above, with the hundreds of girls appearing faceless and indistinct from each other like cogs in a wheel. I also loved the "girl power" illustration of Clara calling for a general strike--Sweet depicts Clara from behind, with hundreds of people in the audience raising their fists in solidarity and with her call for a strike in an oversized text balloon, with the word "Strayk!" (or strike!) in bright red lettering!
  
  This is a must-have for anyone interested in exposing their children to important issues and people in the social justice movement, as well as outstanding women in history, those who chose to try to make a difference in an era when women were encouraged to make their dominion at home.
• 
  Agnė

  3.5 out of 5
  
  Brave Girl: Clara and the Shirtwaist Makers' Strike of 1909 is a well-researched (it has a full-page bibliography at the end of the book) and engagingly written picturebook. But although the subject of the book and its heroine are inspiring, Michelle Markel's story seems a little bit simplistic and its tone is overly optimistic, and thus I was left mostly unmoved after reading it.
  
  I appreciate the additional information about the garment industry at the end of the book; however, as aptly noted by
  another reviewer on Goodreads, the last sentence -- "Though there are still wrongs to be righted, today's workers have five-day workweeks, overtime pay, and other protections due in great part to labor leaders like Clara Lemlich and the thousands of brave girls who picketed in the winter of 1909" -- perpetuates the myth that all the injustices have been righted, while in fact they simply moved overseas to such countries as China, India, and Bangladesh.
  
  The best part of Brave Girl is Mellisa Sweet's mixed-media collage illustrations, which are literally sewn together piece by piece and decorated with various stitched fabrics:
  
  
  
  
  Also, look at these rows of workers who look like rows of stitches themselves (brilliant!):
  
• 
  Paul Hankins

  The story of Clara Lemlich and the Shirtwaist Maker's Strike of 1909. We are, of course, not going to miss the instantaneous "ladders" to FLESH AND BLOOD SO CHEAP, right, friends?
  
  This is a nicely written book by Michelle Markel with plenty of sentence variety to serve well as a mentor text for the younger reader. Creative uses of punctuation could serve as an introduction to the tricky nuances of the em dash. Varying sentence lengths could also serve well introduced in the Writer's Workshop with BRAVE GIRL as a mentor text.
  
  The story of Clara Lemlich here could be readily paired with the picture book coming out soon by Tanya Lee Stone, WHO SAYS WOMEN CANNOT BE DOCTORS?
  
  But the star of this show is certainly the illustrations by Melissa Sweet. From the rows and rows of workers seen from above that seems to become a row of stitches. Houses and buildings stack on top of each other like quilt squares to suggest crowded living conditions. There are mixed media treats throughout the book like this. Some of the illustrations actually look as though they have been sewn into the book. Of course, Sweet selects from a number of textures and patterns, including a banker's note turned on its side to become a building in a city scape.
  
  But my favorite image of all is the one at the end of the book with Clara, whose back is to the reader, looking out over the bay to gaze at the Statue of Liberty. In an image such as this, we are able to see the same love for place that we saw in Balloons Over Broadway.
  
  I humbly suggest that we get at least one Melissa Sweet illustrated title each year as they are just a joy to look through.
• 
  Audrey's Picture Books

  The book is slightly overwrought at times, but engaging and solidly written. My biggest issue with it is the last sentence of its back matter: "Though there are still wrongs to be righted, today's workers have five-day workweeks, overtime pay, and other protections due in great part to labor leaders like Clara Lemlich and the thousands of brave girls who picketed in the winter of 1909." It sounds completely innocent, until you remember that the conditions Clara Lemlich and the other strikers were picketing have not, in fact, been righted. They've just moved oversees to countries like Bangladesh, China, India, and the Philippines, where very similar working conditions have been documented within the last ten years. It's irresponsible in any book on labor to overlook that kind of problem, particularly when most of this book's readers will be wearing clothing made under exactly the conditions its hero so courageously protested. I'm not saying that the book should diminish the accomplishments of the American labor movement, but it shouldn't contribute to the childhood myth that all injustice is in the past, either.
• 
  Shiloah

  Well done!!
• 
  Richie Partington

  Richie’s Picks: BRAVE GIRL: CLARA AND THE SHIRTWAIST MAKER’S STRIKE OF 1909 by Michelle Markel and Melissa Sweet, ill,. HarperCollins/Balzer + Bray, January 2013, 32p., ISBN: 978-0-06-180442-7
  
  “And maybe what’s good gets a little bit better
  And maybe what’s bad gets gone”
  -- David Shire/Norman Gimbel (1979)
  
  “A Wisconsin judge on Friday struck down a state law passed last year that ended most collective-bargaining rights for many public-employee unions, saying the law violates constitutional rights of freedom of speech and equal protection.
  “A spokesman for Republican Governor Scott Walker, who introduced the law as his signature initiative one week after taking office in January 2011, said he was confident the decision would be overturned.
  “The spokesman criticized Dane County Circuit Judge Juan Colas, calling him ‘a liberal activist’ who ‘wants to go backwards and take away the law-making responsibilities of the legislature and the governor.’”
  -- The Wall Street Journal, September 14, 2012
  
  Now, go back 100 years:
  
  “Companies are hiring thousands of immigrant girls to make blouses, coats, nightgowns, and other women’s clothing. They earn only a few dollars a month, but it helps pay for food and rent. So instead of carrying books to school, many girls carry sewing machines to work. Clara becomes a garment worker.
  “From dawn to dusk, she’s locked up in a factory. Rows and rows of young women bend over their tables, stitching collars, sleeves, and cuffs as fast as they can. ‘Hurry up, hurry up,’ the bosses yell. Ratatatatat, hisses Clara’s machine. The sunless room is stuffy from all the bodies crammed inside. There are two filthy toilets, one sink, and three towels for three hundred girls to share.”
  
  BRAVE GIRL is the story of young Clara Lemlich who immigrated with her parents to New York from Eastern Europe in 1903. While slaving elbow-to-elbow with young women in the garment factory all day and then studying English in school at night, Clara also became involved in organizing the other garment workers and, six years after arriving in New York, she instigated the largest walkout of women workers in U.S. history. In the process, she was beaten (resulting in six broken ribs) and repeatedly arrested.
  
  It was, of course, because of the labor movement and the strikes that organized labor necessarily staged, that workers eventually swayed public sentiment, forcing government to enact laws requiring eight-hour work days, five-day work weeks, workman’s compensation, overtime pay, and the many other substantive changes promoting worker health, safety, and economic justice that have come into being over the century since Clara was risking her life in order to improve conditions in those sweatshops.
  
  “The next morning, New York City is stunned by the sight of thousands of young women streaming from the factories.
  “One newspaper calls it an army. Others call it a revolt. It’s a revolt of girls, for some are only twelve years old.”
  
  I’m thinking that we can look at this great picture book for older readers in one of two ways:
  
  We can scratch the surface and see this as an upbeat story about a real-life spunky girl who is a great model for young women – a Women’s History Month precursor of Norma Rae/Fergie/Hillary.
  
  Or we can dig deeper and view this book as a good entry point to the complicated and ongoing tale of organized labor, an important topic for middle school kids who may well be on the cusp of their first taste of unions (when they get their first after-school or summer job), and who are soon enough going to become voters deciding upon the future of collective bargaining, worker safety, social security, and so many other issues that affect the day-to-day lives of millions and millions of Americans.
  
  Since well before Clara Lemlich’s time, there has always been the constant tug of war between labor and management. (I was just reading online about a successful strike in Wisconsin way back in 1848.) Or we might view it as a pendulum where sentiment swings back and forth as labor and management seek to gain advantage by vilifying one another in the public’s eye. These issues are – or should be – a significant aspect of social studies. And BRAVE GIRL offers a great first step toward understanding what is at stake.
  
  Richie Partington, MLIS
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• 
  Samantha

  A picture book biography about Clara Lemlich, the brave strike organizer that worked hard to improve working conditions for the young women employed in the garment industry factories.
  
  Very well written text reveals some of the most shocking atrocities young girls faced in the factories yet shines an ever powerful light on Clara's uncrushable spirit. Mixed media artwork is incredible. The pictures give the book a scrapbook feel as though readers are being told a story that has been passed down from generation to generation in a family. I loved the stitchery that acts as a border around many of the illustrations. The overall effect for me was that of viewing a story quilt as each stitched picture resembled a snapshot of an important moment around which the story is based.
  
  A two page spread giving more information about the garment industry follows the story and helps drive home the message that one brave girl made great strides in improving a flawed system and workers today are still reaping the benefits of her efforts. A selected bibliography is also included.
• 
  KC

  Young Clara stands up for equal rights for all women in the garment industry at the beginning of the 20th century.
• 
  Claudia

  Brave and Mighty. Clara Lemich came to America with nothing and got a job at a shirt factory...she learned English, she witnessed inequity, and she used her voice to speak up. She inspired a strike that improved working conditions for all workers... but the horrendous fire in the Triangle Factory still happened.
  
  The illustrations are superb. Lots of tiny stitches and fabric close-ups with enough detail to see the weaves in the fabric swatches.
  
  LOVED this book, and so glad Clara is now part of the wider conversation about workers' rights.
• 
  Margaret Chind

  
  
  Originally posted on Creative Madness Mama.

  The inspiring true story of Clara Lemlich, a young immigrant girl who led the biggest strike of women workers in U.S. history
  

  *This post has been updated with my new format as of January 26, 2016
  with the
  Ultimate Book Blogger Plugin.*
  
  

  Understandably an award winner!
  This is an excellent historical non-fiction biography book for every child to read, but especially so to show little girls what a brave girl can make in a difference in the world and every one's lives. Clara Lemlich is one such example and reading through the fabulously illustrated pages of this picture book a reader can be impressed an proud of history and the changes we can make. The pictures are great, made up of water color as well as cut and paste and even sewing stitches on some pages gives it interest and texture that make one want to just really look and take it all in. In my humble opinion, it brings the idea of being a garment worker even more to life. This one is a winner and I will definitely want to get a real copy for our shelves.
  
  
  
  
  This review was originally posted on Creative Madness Mama.
• 
  Tasha

  Clara Lemlich and her family came to America planning to find jobs, but no one will hire her father. The factories did want girls like Clara though, and so she started working in the garment industry. She worked from dusk to dawn in rows with other young girls, sewing as fast as she could. If they were late at all, they lost half a day’s wages. If they pricked their fingers and bled on the cloth they were fined, if it happened again they were fired. The doors were locked, there was no fresh air, and the girls were inspected when they left to make sure they weren’t stealing anything. But Clara would not be held down, she went to the library and learned English, teaching the other factory girls on their lunch break. Then Clara learned about unions and strikes, though some thought the girls were not tough enough to strike. So began her transformation into a union leader, through beatings and hunger, these girls and Clara are the people we have to thank for fair hours and pay.
  
  Markel tells the story with a strong heart and a certain thrill. Readers get to see a quiet girl get off of the boat and steadily transform through self-education and pure tenacity into an amazing person who had strength and energy enough for several people. Markel manages to tell the story of the times without dedicating much of her brief story to background. Instead she uses the situation at the mill to speak on their own. She ends the book with more information about the garment industry, giving facts and figures about how many girls were working there and the abuses they suffered.
  
  Sweet’s illustrations are a treat. Her paintings are turned into collage with the addition of various textiles and trims. On one page the buildings of New York are painted and then enriched by trimmings, stitches and swatches of material. On another the painting is smaller and then framed by material. Clara herself is often wearing a look of determination on her face, usually with a fist clenched as if ready to do battle at any time.
  
  This is a wonderful picture book biography about a heroine that children can related directly to, since she is so young. It is also a very timely read with labor under such pressure right now. Appropriate for ages 6-9.
• 
  Joan

  This is a brief look at the history of Clara Lemlich, one of the earliest and most successful union workers back when there were no rights for workers. There is a fascinating chart on the back showing how many CENTS per hour these workers, some as young as 12, were making to get their total of a stunning six dollars per day employment. Yes, Six dollars per DAY. I rather wished that it had been cataloged under biography but I can see why the economic Dewey number was used. Hopefully some children will find it and realize how much unions have given American middle class, what is left of it, their relatively rich, safe, lifestyle. Take a look at the New York buildings shown on the page where workers start pouring out of the buildings. That sort of work is why Sweet won the Caldecott. There is a brief description of the work conditions of the garment workers that may make some kids think twice about the "uselessness" of unions.While I can't find anything to point to for not giving it five stars, it just wasn't memorable enough for me to do that. It might be my mood. I am rather critical of the afterword that mentions the Triangle Factory disaster but doesn't explain how it is that a presumably successful strike did not include major factories like this in the agreement. I'll try to remember to revisit this in a while and see what I think then. One thing this book does do well, is give kids a biography of someone they almost certainly have never heard of.
• 
  Kellee Moye

  Full review at:
  http://www.unleashingreaders.com/?p=1217
  
  Clara and her family immigrated to New York. They were searching for the American dream. When her father could not find a job, Clara quit school and became a garment worker to support her family. The conditions at her factory were appalling: low wages, unfair rules, and locks on the door. After discussions between the workers, Clara helps urge the girls to fight for their rights.
  
  I am sucker for this biographical picture book for two reasons: 1) I had not known about the Shirtwaist Makers’ Strike of 1909 before and I love learning about new historical moments. I know that it interested me (as I know it would for kids), because after I read the additional information about the garment industry I was on the internet searching for more information. 2) Clara is such a great example of girl power! AND she is a historical figure that shows girls (and boys) that girls can stand up for themselves when they are not being treated well (in real life). I love that she overcame so much to not only stand up for her rights, but also to get an education and take care of her family. What an amazing person to learn about.
• 
  Lynne Vanderveen Smith

  I was looking forward to reading this book, but found it to be a bit disappointing. I'm not sure that little children would be at all interested. As a way of introducing the history of factory workers and labor movement history, this book could be okay and would be better if it dealt a bit more with the conditions in the factories and the dangers. As it is, the reader doesn't develop a sympathetic feeling for Clara. She is presented as strident, and the book comes off as mostly a call for unionizing.
• 
  Ms. B

  Picture book for older readers, this is the biography of Clara Lemlich who in 1909 lead the largest strike of women workers in our country's history. Learn about unions, the labor movement, strikes, and workers' rights in this informative story.
• 
  Kris

  An enlightening introduction to the deplorable conditions and shameful treatment of factory workers, especially women and children. The one thing that I think it does not effectively communicate is just how much risk Clara was putting herself in by organizing the strikes. Still an incredible story of what can be done, even in terrible circumstances, and of how much the people at the top just don't care unless you force them to by affecting the bottom line.
• 
  Elizabeth

  The page describing Clara starting work as a garment worker is surrounding by strips of cloth; and the next page is an aerial shot of rows of garment workers, making them look like a patch of cloth themselves; and the page outlining the tough rules has illustrations evocative of scraps of cloth. Those pages are really excellently illustrated -- brava, Melissa Sweet.
  
  I love that Clara is the one who proposes a general strike (the small strikes haven't been effective, because the bosses keep finding "other young women to do the work for the same low pay and long hours").

  The union holds a meeting. Throngs of workers pack the seats, the aisles, the walls--the hall thrums with excitement. Clara listens to speech after speech.
  
  The speakers, mostly men, want everyone to be careful. Two hours pass. No one recommends a general strike.
  
  Finally, the most powerful union leader in the country goes up to the podium. Not even he proposes action!
  
  So Clara does.
  
  That's right--Clara. She calls out from the front of the hall. The crowd lifts her to the stage, where she shots in Yiddish:
  
  "I have no further patience for talk--I move that we go on a general strike!"
  
  And she starts the largest walkout of women workers in U.S. history.
  
  The next morning, New York is stunned by the sight of thousands of young women streaming from the factories.
  
  One newspaper calls it an army. Others call it a revolt. It's a revolt of girls, for some are only twelve years old, and the rest are barely out of their teens.
  
  In the coming weeks, Clara is called a hero. She lights up chilly union halls with her fiery pep talks. Her singing lifts the spirits of the picketers. When a group of thugs approaches, she yells, "Stand fast, girls!"
  
  And they do. All winter long, in the bitter cold, in their cheap, thin coats, tired and starving and scared, the girls walk alongside the men on the icy sidewalks of the picket line. They spill out of the union halls, blocking the roads, filling street corners and public squares.
  
  Newspapers write stories about them.
  
  College girls raise money for them.
  
  Rich women--swathed in fur coats--picket with the factory girls.
  
  By the time the strike is over, hundreds of bosses agree to let their staff form unions. They shorten the workweek and raise salaries.
  
  The strike emboldens thousands of women to walk out of garment factories in Philadelphia and Chicago.

  The whole bit is really powerful -- from Clara's growing frustration at non-action, to the reminder that these barely-clothed girls are picketing outside in NYC in the winter, to the fact that they were successful and inspired strikes in other cities. (Hi, this book made me teary, too.)
  
  The "More About the Garment Industry" after the story ends with: "Though there are still wrongs to be righted, today's workers have five-day workweeks, overtime pay, and other protections due in great part to labor leaders like Clara Lemlich and the thousands of brave girls who picketed in the winter of 1909." [crying emoji]
  
  The relatively simplistic narrative of the book is aimed at young readers and elides a lot of details -- what country did Clara and her family immigrate from? [Ukraine] how old was she when she started as a garment worker? [17] -- including her Judaism, though it does nod to it when she speaks in Yiddish that one time (and I like that the illustration includes some Yiddish words -- "unzer ayntsiger oysveg iza zshneral strayk!"), and it becomes more clear in the "More About the Garment Industry" after the story:

  Between 1880 and 1920, two million Jews immigrated to America, fleeing persecution, pogroms (government-sanctioned attacks), and poverty in Ukraine, Poland, and other parts of Eastern Europe. Many of these immigrants found work in the booming garment industry. In 1909, the year of the genera strike, nearly four hundred factories employing forty thousand people made blouses for half the country. Of these workers, 80 percent were female. 70 percent were between sixteen and twenty-five years of age, and 65 percent were Russian/Eastern European Jewish (the remainder of workers were Italian and American).
• 
  Alex Baugh

  When Clara Lemlich emigrated to the United States with her family in the early 1900s, she didn't speak much English. She was a young girl who should have been in school, but instead, she took her sewing machine and went to work as a seamstress in a factory to help out her family when her father couldn't get work.
  
  Clara may have been one of thousands and thousands of young garment workers in New York City and throughout the country, but Clara was also smart and ambitious. So she signed up for night classes after working a back-breaking day sewing garments. The work was hard, the pay was low and the punishments for mistakes were harsh.
  
  Some of the male garment workers wanted to become part of a union so they could strike for better conditions, but they thought the girls too weak for that kind of action. Not Clara!
  
  At one of the union meetings, none of the men called for a strike. So Clara did - in Yiddish! The next morning, garment workers in New York City went on strike. It lasted through the winter. During the strike, Clara paid dearly at the hands of the police, who beat, handcuffed and jailed her (17 times). Still, she kept on. And the strikers got support - from rich women, from college students, even the newspapers wrote about them. Finally, the 1909 NYC strike ended, the workers unionized, got better wages and a shorter workweek, inspiring garment workers in Philadelphia and Chicago go on strike, too.
  
  Written in appealing, upbeat language, Michelle Markel's biography of Clara Lemlich's is an accessible, inspiring story for young readers. Her message is clear - you can make a difference, you can bring about change. It feels like a message that she is basically directing at girls, though boys can certainly benefit from it, too.
  
  And lucky kids of today! When I learned about unions in school, it was a rather boring, unrelatable unit of social studies. But in only 32 pages, Markel has managed to change all that. She put a face on the lesson, personalized it and was lucky enough to have Melissa Sweet illustrate her words.
  
  And Melissa has done, as usual, a superb job of it. The illustrations are done in watercolor, gouache, and mixed-media, and are based on both her imagination and old photographs of the actual events. The pictures all look like sewn pieces of fabric, right down to the stitching around the edge. In the background of both text and fabric swatch, are all kinds of nice touches related to sewing. It all works so wonderfully well with the text.
  
  There are two pages of backmatter in Brave Girl. First, there is more information about the garment industry and its unions. And second, there is a select bibliography along with the primary sources used.
  
  Brave Girl is definitely a book not to be missed.
  
  This book is recommended for readers age 5+
  This book was borrowed from the NYPL
  
  This review was originally posted at
  Randomly Reading
• 
  Baby Bookworm

  
  
  This review was originally written for
  The Baby Bookworm. Visit us for new picture books reviews daily!
  
  Hello, friends! Today’s book is Brave Girl: Clara And The Shirtwaist Makers’ Strike Of 1909, written by Michelle Markel and illustrated by Melissa Sweet, a picture book biography of Clara Lemlich, one of the organizers of a massive protest of garment workers at the turn of the century.
  
  To look at Clara Lemlich when she arrived in New York City, she wouldn’t have looked like much: five feet tall, only seventeen years old, and barely able to speak English. When her father could not find work, Clara went to work in a garment factory sweatshop to help provide for her family. She found the conditions to be deplorable, and the managers and bosses to be cruel and corrupt. Unwilling to be treated unfairly, Clara encouraged her fellow workers to form a union and strike, facing intimidation, arrest, and even violence in her pursuit of a safe and fair working environment. Eventually, this brave young immigrant would help organize a walkout of 20,000 workers, inspiring similar strikes across the country and forcing employers to create fair working conditions for their employees.
  
  This one was fabulous! Oftentimes with picture book biographies, the length is either too much for one sitting or not long enough to tell a cohesive or satisfying story. But this one was told clearly and powerfully, yet briefly enough for little bookworms to make it through in one sitting. And it’s a great story: the tale of a brave young woman with an emphasis on education, courage, justice, and the power of both united people and women in general. The illustrations were lovely, and peppered with some truly clever mixed-media elements that made it stand out. JJ and I both really enjoyed this look at a real-life feminist hero, and it’s definitely Baby Bookworm approved!
  
  Be sure to check out
  The Baby Bookworm for more reviews!
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  Beth

  Twin-Text: Marching with Aunt Susan: Susan B. Anthony and the Fight for Women's Suffrage by Claire Rudolf Murphy Stacey Schuett (Illustrator) October 1, 2011
  
  Rationale: I just got both of these books this morning (took a bit longer to arrive than I had planned) My class has been talking about equal rights and discrimination among the races but I was also looking for books that would explain discrimination based on gender as well. Both Brave Girl and Marching with Aunt Susan focused on this aspect. While brave girl looks at the injustices of labor laws and immigrants, Marching with Aunt Susan also looks at discrimination but is told from the perspective of a young girl who just wants to go on a hike like the boys. She discovers that hiking isn't the only thing she isn't allowed to do because she's a girl. The fiction twin text allows for a better connection with the main character Bessie is a young girl telling the story, where as Clara is a bit older.
  
  The text structure of Brave Girl is description. The author describes in detail the "sunless" room and the "ratatatat" of the sewing machines. The text is set on various textile backgrounds so it looks as thought the illustrations and words have been placed on the very garments that Clara and her mother made.
  
  Strategy Application: Flash back in history activity. Splitting the class up into gender groups where the boys are allowed to sit at the desks and go to school while the girls are told they have to clean the room. (This went over hilariously! One student actually threatened to call her mother and tell on me that I was forcing her to clean my classroom.) I guess I should have prefaced this activity with a brief description of the books we were going to read. This strategy would lead into a research activity where both the boys and girls would find information on inequality among the genders.
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  MaryannP

  This is an informational picture book that won great reviews. It follows the life of Clara who is an immigrant to the U.S.. She was hired to make clothes in a factory with several other factory workers. In the early 1900's factory conditions were very harsh and the illustrations did a great job of depicting this. They are all realistic images that make the words on the page come to life. Clara feels frustrated and defeated at times because she didn't think America was going to be the way that it turned out for her.
  
  Clara ends up standing up for what she believes in and gets others to strike. This leads to her being fired, beaten, and arrested. Others end up replacing her in the job because they need the money. Clara eventually leads the largest walkout of women workers in the U.S., where thousands join her in a revolt to the conditions.
  
  The revolt ends in the establishment of unions, shorter workweeks, and higher salaries. The end of the book includes realistic images, history on the garment industry, and an inside look and more information on what it was like to live and work in the clothing factories during that time period.
  
  This is a great book to read a loud in a classroom that is learning about unfair work conditions, the early 1900's, and for teaching theme, as this is a strong text that shows bravery and power.
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  Barbara

  Full of hope for a bright future immigrant Clara Lemlich arrives in New York City only to face harsh working conditions in her new job. Along with other young women in 1909, she works in a sweatshop sewing women's clothing. The workers are locked inside the building and searched when they leave. Clara ends up encouraging the girls to walk a picket line for better pay and working conditions, and then when the leaders of the city-wide labor movement hesitate to call a strike, she steps forward and urges that particular action. Because of Clara's determination, bravery, and voice calling for fair treatment, women in other garment factories in other cities also revolt, and some of the strikers' demands are met. Clara may have been short in stature--five feet tall--but she clearly had an enormous heart. Readers will draw inspiration from this story and marvel at the watercolor, gouache, and mixed media illustrations that help tell Clara's story so effectively. Back matter provides additional information about the garment industry while also reminding readers that much work still needs to be done when it comes to the rights of workers. What a wonderful title to add to a social studies unit on immigration or youngsters daring to make a difference!
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  Haji

  I absolutely love this book. This book is full of hope and girl power. It is about a girl named Clara Lemlich , and her family who came to America, to find jobs and live the American dream. only to find out he dad couldn't find a job. Clara, could hardly speak e quit school to find a job. She was only five feet tall so no factory would hire her. so she started working in the garment industry. she and the other girls that worked there were badly mistreated and forced to work under harsh conditions. Clara, was determined, so she would go to the library and learn English. she would then teach the other girls on their lunch break. Clara, began learning about unions and walking the picket lines for better pay and working conditions. Clara, began to fight back and encouraged the other girls to fight back. she organized the largest walkout of women workers in history. I love the message it sends to girls that we can do anything and we should stand up for what we believe. I also enjoyed learning about a historical moment that I didn't know much about. the illustrations in this book are very beautiful and strong. the illustrator takes you inside the garment disrtict by giving did a great detail and images. I would recommend this book for third graders.
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  Betsy

  I'm a fan of Melissa Sweet's artwork, and this book lives up to my expectations. I love, love, love the illustrations--Sweet uses all sorts of sewing images and techniques in the illustrations: the borders (frames) of many images look stitched, lots of pages look like scraps of fabric have been pieced together for the background of the illustrations, and the perspective is well done (one picture that really stood out to me was the scene of the 300 girls sitting at tables--seen from above).
  
  The storyline isn't quite as strong--not bad, just doesn't stand out as much as Sweet's artwork. A strong bias towards Unions seems to be present, but that could simply be our 21st century eyes looking back; working conditions are SO much better now than they were a century ago, particularly for women and young girls.
  
  All in all, a solid informational text that will work well for elementary school students--an author's note at the end provides more information as does the selected bibliography and resources for further research listed at the back.
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  Jenny

  This biography of Clara Lemlich would pair well with the fairy tale adaptation:
  Disenchanted: The Trials of Cinderella which I read just a couple of weeks ago. Both deal with workers' rights and the abuses prevalent in the garment industry.
  
  Clara was exactly what the title suggests: a brave girl who wanted to improve her own situation as well as the lives of those around her. At the time, garment workers were often young women (even girls, some as young as 6). They worked long hours. They were locked in the room and searched before they left. They were paid poorly. So Clara worked with the union to lead strikes. She was jailed and beaten but she continued to press forward in her determination to improve conditions for all the workers.
  
  The book includes an author's note and bibliography. It is both touching and inspiring to read of her determination, courage and sacrifices.
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  Holly Mueller

  Five foot tall Clara Lemlich arrived in America hardly speaking a word of English. Within weeks she was hired, along with thousands of other immigrant girls, to make blouses in a garment factory. She quickly realized that this life was not what she imagined. Long hours, filthy working conditions, and abusive bosses left Clara sore and exhausted. In spite of it all, she would walk to the library after her shift and learn to read. Soon Clara fought back and encouraged the other girls to fight with her. They would go on strike! She was arrested and beaten, but gritty Clara would not be defeated. She organized the largest walkout of women workers in U.S. history! "Proving that in America, wrongs can be righted, warriors can wear skirts and blouses, and the bravest hearts may beat in girls only five feet tall. Sweet's illustrations are charming and heartfelt. I really love her work. Great book to inspire girls!
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  Caroline

  I've read two books recently on the Shirtwaist Strikes and the Triangle Fire (the fictionalized account
  Uprising and the non-fiction
  Flesh & Blood So Cheap: The Triangle Fire and Its Legacy) so I was excited to find this children's book about the same topic--although it doesn't go into the fire, just the strike which happened before. Instead, it focuses on the bravery of one of the young strikers and teaches the wonderful lesson of fighting for your rights. Could be appropriate in a discussion of current events worker's rights.
  
  The pictures are where this book truly shines. Many of them are realia (papers and cloth) literally stitched together and interspersed with beautiful watercolors.