Nonfiction Monday -- Triangle Shirtwaist Fire

I'm going to cheat a bit today. The nonfiction part of my post is not a book. Instead, I give you some links for nonfiction reading you might do before or after you finish Margaret Peterson Haddix's book Uprising: Three Young Women Caught in the Fire That Changed America.

Cornell University's Online Exhibit on The Triangle Factory Fire

Wikipedia entry on The Triangle Factory Fire

History of the Union Movement in America

Library of Congress Immigration Site

Scholastic Site on Women's Suffrage

Wikipedia -- What else happened in 1911?

Uprising: Three Young Women Caught in the Fire That Changed America
by Margaret Peterson Haddix
Simon and Schuster, 2007

This book should be required reading for all women and girls -- to remind us or teach us how far we've come in the struggle for equal rights.

This book should be required reading for anyone whose ancestors were immigrants in America -- to remind us or teach us about the sacrifices that were made to make our cities and our country what it is today.

This book should be required reading for anyone whose association or union is currently involved in negotiations -- to remind us or to teach us the importance of the rights of the worker.

Haddix has written a story that is very accessible. Framed in the beginning and the end by young women who are questioning a survivor of the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire, the story is told from three points of view -- Yetta, a Jewish girl who is a Russian immigrant, Bella, an Italian immigrant, and Jane, a high society girl. These three stories become entwined in very believable ways, and the ending, while tragic, provides hope, both for the future in the story and for our modern day future.


Anastasia Suen at Picture Book of the Day is hosting the Nonfiction Monday round up.