Counting on Grace - Hardcover

Winthrop, Elizabeth

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 038574644X ISBN 13: 9780385746441

Publisher: Wendy Lamb Books, 2006

Synopsis

1910. Pownal, Vermont. At 12, Grace and her best friend Arthur must leave school and go to work as a “doffers” on their mothers’ looms in the mill. Grace’s mother is the best worker, fast and powerful, and Grace desperately wants to help her. But she’s left handed and doffing is a right-handed job. Grace’s every mistake costs her mother, and the family. She only feels capable on Sundays, when she and Arthur receive special lessons from their teacher. Together they write a secret letter to the Child Labor Board about underage children working in Pownal. A few weeks later a man with a camera shows up. It is the famous reformer Lewis Hine, undercover, collecting evidence for the Child Labor Board. Grace’s brief acquaintance with Hine and the photos he takes of her are a gift that changes her sense of herself, her future, and her family’s future.

About this title

About the Author:

Elizabeth Winthrop is the highly acclaimed author of more than sixty books for children of all ages. She is the daughter of famed journalist and political analyst Stewart Alsop, and the great-grandniece of Theodore Roosevelt. Her works include Counting on Grace, The Castle in the Attic, and The Battle for the Castle. 

From AudioFile:

Lili Gamache creates a remarkably resourceful and sympathetic character in Grace Forcier, a 12-year-old girl who leaves school to work at the mill in a Vermont town in 1910. COUNTING ON GRACE is an excellent historical novel inspired by the real-life photograph of a mill child taken by child labor activist Lewis Hines. Grace is a wide-eyed girl who wants so much to help her family earn more money, to learn to read with her teacher on Sundays, and ultimately to become a teacher; and that enthusiasm and frustration are faithfully translated. Another highlight is Gamache's interpretation of Grace's mother as a proud French-Canadian mill worker and a force to be reckoned with. The music seems slightly overused but doesn't mar a stunning production. A.B. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award © AudioFile 2007, Portland, Maine-- Copyright © AudioFile, Portland, Maine

About this edition

• Publisher: Wendy Lamb Books
• Publication date: 2006
• ISBN 10: 038574644X
• ISBN 13: 9780385746441
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 240