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2024 Bookish Books Reading Challenge (Hosted by Yours Truly)

My Progress:


37 / 30 books. 123% done!

2024 Literary Escapes Challenge

- Alabama (1)
- Alaska (1)
- Arizona (1)
- Arkansas (1)
- California (10)
- Colorado (1)
- Connecticut (2)
- Delaware (1)
- Florida (2)
- Georgia (2)
- Hawaii (1)
- Idaho (2)
- Illinois (4)
- Indiana (4)
- Iowa (1)
- Kansas (1)
- Kentucky (1)
- Louisiana (1)
- Maine (1)
- Maryland (1)
- Massachusetts (3)
- Michigan (1)
- Minnesota (2)
- Mississippi (1)
- Missouri (1)
- Montana (1)
- Nebraska (1)
- Nevada (2)
- New Hampshire (1)
- New Jersey (1)
- New Mexico (1)
- New York (9)
- North Carolina (4)
- North Dakota (1)
- Ohio (3)
- Oklahoma (2)
- Oregon (2)
- Pennsylvania (2)
- Rhode Island (1)
- South Carolina (1)
- South Dakota (1)
- Tennessee (1)
- Texas (4)
- Utah (4)
- Vermont (2)
- Virginia (2)
- Washington (3)
- West Virginia (1)
- Wisconsin (1)
- Wyoming (2)
- Washington, D.C.* (2)

International:
- Argentina (1)
- Australia (3)
- Bolivia (1)
- Canada (3)
- China (2)
- England (24)
- France (1)
- Ghana (1)
- India (1)
- Indonesia (1)
- Ireland (4)
- Italy (1)
- Poland (1)
- Russia (1)
- Scotland (3)
- The Netherlands (1)

My Progress:


51 / 51 states. 100% done!

2024 Historical Fiction Reading Challenge

My Progress:


51 / 50 books. 102% done!

2024 POPSUGAR Reading Challenge


36 / 50 books. 72% done!

Booklist Queen's 2024 Reading Challenge

My Progress:


52 / 52 books. 100% done!

2024 52 Club Reading Challenge

My Progress:


50 / 52 books. 96% done!

2024 Build Your Library Reading Challenge

My Progress:


37 / 40 books. 93% done!

2024 Pioneer Book Reading Challenge


18 / 40 books. 45% done!

2024 Craving for Cozies Reading Challenge

My Progress:


27 / 25 cozies. 108% done!

2024 Medical Examiner's Mystery Reading Challenge

2024 Mystery Marathon Reading Challenge

My Progress


25 / 26.2 miles (3rd lap). 95% done!

Mount TBR Reading Challenge

My Progress


42 / 100 books. 42% done!

2024 Pick Your Poison Reading Challenge

My Progress:


97 / 109 books. 89% done!

Around the Year in 52 Books Reading Challenge

My Progress


52 / 52 books. 100% done!

Disney Animated Movies Reading Challenge

My Progress


136 / 165 books. 82% done!

The 100 Most Common Last Names in the U.S. Reading Challenge

My Progress:


84 / 100 names. 84% done!

The Life Skills Reading Challenge

My Progress:


22 / 80 skills. 28% done!
Tuesday, November 15, 2016

Gripping YA Novel Brings Historic Workplace Tragedy to Vivid, Mesmerizing Life

(Image from Barnes & Noble)

Until 9/11, the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire had the dubious distinction of being the worst workplace disaster in New York City's history.  And yet, I knew little about it.  Uprising, Margaret Peterson Haddix's excellent novel about the incident, changed that.  The affecting tale puts a very human face on the fire—its causes, its effects, and the disastrous toll it took on the city's most vulnerable citizens.  It's a fascinating story based on horrifying true events.

Uprising features three very different young women: Bella Rossetti, a starry-eyed Italian immigrant whose dreams of a shiny new American life are quickly being shattered by the grimy reality; Yetta, a 14-year-old Jew from Russia, who attends union meetings in an attempt to create a better working environment for her and the other girls at the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory; and Jane Wellington, a bored society girl who seeks illicit excitement at the front of the picket line, only to find herself sucked into a cause that will change her forever.  The fates of the three intertwine in the days leading up to the tragedy.  

On March 25, 1911, Bella, Yetta, and Jane are all inside the Asch Building when fire breaks out in its upper floors.  Through their eyes, we see the panic that ensued.  Workers, who were regularly locked inside the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory to prevent theft, struggled to get out of the burning building.  With bulky sewing equipment to dodge, one fire escape for the whole structure, and few other safety features, it was a death trap.  The blaze spread rapidly, ultimately leading to the deaths of 146 terrified employees.  In grim detail, Haddix brings these events to vivid life, creating a picture that will linger in readers' heads long after they finish Uprising.  It's no wonder this preventable tragedy continues to haunt us—even 100 years later, the horror of it all is difficult to process.  Haddix recounts it brilliantly in this mesmerizing, compelling tale featuring a trio of brave, resilient young women who symbolize the real people who suffered poverty, pain, and privation in pursuit of the American dream.  If you're up for a gripping, very affecting historical novel, look no further than Uprising.

(Readalikes: Reminded me of These Shallow Graves by Jennifer Donnelly and of A Fall of Marigolds by Susan Meissner)

Grade:


If this were a movie, it would be rated:


for violence, sexual innuendo, vague references to prostitution, and scenes of peril

To the FTC, with love:  Another library fine find
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Reading

<i>Reading</i>
Dumb Witness by Agatha Christie

Listening

<i>Listening</i>
The Soulmate by Sally Hepworth



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