Sherry York (VOYA, February 2000 (Vol. 22, No. 6))
Have children always been victims in the workplace? Did they ever fight back? What role did they play in organized labor? These questions are answered as the author adroitly evokes the social milieu in which strikes involving children occurred in Massachusetts, New York, and Pennsylvania from 1836 through 1910. Numerous black-and-white archival photographs effectively illustrate the descriptions of people and events in this lively history. As social commentary and a vivid portrayal of historical events, this book achieves an ideal balance between factual reporting and proselytizing. Readers are able to assimilate data and form their own opinions. A time line of federal child labor laws begins in 1916 when the first laws were passed, continues through the 1938 Fair Labor Standards Act, and ends with a present-day statistic about the exploitation of children under age fourteen in industrialized and developing nations around the world. The bibliography includes general sources and chapter-by-chapter documentation. Bartoletti's unique scope creates a valuable resource for students researching labor movements or the role of children in American history or both. It can also provide supplemental reading for students in child development, history and the family, and economics classes. Bartoletti's background as a teacher is apparent; this nonfiction book invites reading for pleasure as well as information. Index. Illus. Photos. Biblio. Source Notes. Chronology. VOYA CODES: 4Q 3P M J S (Better than most, marred only by occasional lapses; Will appeal with pushing;

Elizabeth Bush (The Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books, December 1999 (Vol. 53, No. 4))
Although much has been written about child labor past and present, Bartoletti focuses here on children’s participation in organized labor actions. Eight substantial chapters cover various industries (from spinning to mining to shoe shining), and differing outcomes (from failed strikes to landmark gains) in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Readers can observe a broad spectrum of children’s experiences--New York bootblacks who organized for relief from uniform rental fees; “newsies” whose business acumen (and outright cheating and deceit) kept their families afloat; young mine workers who testified at federally mandated arbitration hearings; children sent to foster homes (for safety and publicity) during the violent Lawrence, Massachusetts mill strike. Coverage does fall short in several key areas, though. Child farm labor is virtually ignored, black child laborers receive cursory attention, larger national issues of Socialism, anarchism, immigration, (and even the problem of defining the age of adulthood) are weakly addressed. Still, Bartoletti’s text and the bounty of period photographs are engaging enough to whet readers’ appetite for more, and extensive chapter-by-chapter bibliographies can lead serious upper-grade researchers onto more specific materials. An index and timetable of federal child labor laws are included.