Suzanne Lieurance

If you are looking for a historical fiction that will knock your socks off then this is the book. This story is a familiar one to many of us. It is the story of lives lost in one of the worst fires in New York City. Galena and Anya are two Jewish sisters who have immigrated from Russia with their parents. Anya works on the 10th floor of the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory. Galena is only 14 and works on the eighth floor. Her job is to snip loose threads from the garments. She works six days a week. Her sister's boyfriend Dimitri is trying to get Anya to join the union. Their mother is against it. Dimitri wants them to be safe and he knows that working for the union is the only way that can be guaranteed. In March of 1911 a fire broke out in the factory. Anya runs upstairs to find her sister. What she witnesses that day is such a horror. When talking to my students about it they will be able to make connections between this book and the Towers that were hit on 9/11. It is a book that is hard to put down. It is a story that must be heard again and again. It is one I will definitely read to my students.… (mehr)