Description

 Katherine Paterson’s many awards include two Newbery Medals, two National Book Awards and the Hans Christian Andersen Medal. Her inspiration for this book came after coming across the photograph of  the strikers children taken on the steps of the Old Socialist Labor Hall. The caption read: “Children of Lawrence, Massachusetts, Bread and Roses Strike Come to Barre.” She had heard of the strike but wondered what children from that city were doing in her Vermont town, so she determined to find out and this novel is the result.

The Lawrence Public Library sponsored a citywide read of this book as part of the centennial commemorations in 2012 and the book was the basis for the Vermont Humanities Council Vermont Reads 2018 statewide reading program.