Labor Day and Workers Rights Booklist

Title: The Bobbin Girl
By: Emily Arnold McCully
Published: 1996

Rebecca Putney is a bobbin girl who helps support her struggling family by working all day in a hot, noisy cotton mill. Working conditions at the mill are poor, and there is talk of lowering the workers' wages. Rebecca's friend Judith wants to protest the pay cut--but troublemakers at the mill are dismissed. Does Rebecca have the courage to join the protest? Age Range: 6 - 9 years

Call Number: J ILLUSTRATED FICTION McCully at Niles-Maine Public Library

Title: Brave Girl: Clara and the Shirtwaist Makers' Strike of 1909
By: Michelle Markel and Melissa Sweet
Published: 2013

Clara comes to NYC dirt poor but full of grit. She works a miserable, backbreaking job at a garment factory. An extraordinary individual, she teaches herself to read and leads the largest walkout of women workers in U.S. History. Melissa Sweet tells a valuable story of the history of women workers and the importance of fair labor practices. Age Range: 5 and up

Call Number: x331.892 Marke.M

Title: Bread and Roses, too!
By: Katherine Paterson
Published: 2006

Jake and Rosa, two children, form an unlikely friendship as they try to survive and understand the 1912 Bread and Roses strike of mill workers in Lawrence, Massachusetts. Age Range: 10 - 13 years

Call Number: J Pater.K (a novel)

Title: Dolores Huerta: A Hero to Migrant Workers
By: Sarah Warren and Robert Casilla
Published: 2012

This is the story of Dolores Huerta who worked to ensure fair and safe workplaces for migrant workers. She is a Latina who still inspires us! Age Range: 6 - 9 years

Call Number: xBiog Huert.D Warre. S

Title: Harvesting Hope
By: Kathleen Krull and Yuyi Morales
Published: 2003

Cesar Chavez is known as one of America's greatest labor leaders. When he led a 340-mile peaceful protest march through California, he ignited a cause that improved the lives of migrant farmworkers. But Cesar wasn't always a leader. This biography covers his life from age 10 until that march! Age Range: 4 - 10 years

Call Number: xBiog Chave.C Krull.K
Also available as Cosechando esperanza : la historia de César Chávez at: Spanish xBiog Chave.C Krull.K

Title: Kid Blink Beats The World
By: Don Brown
Published: 2004

Kids will enjoy this book about the newspaper boys and girls who went on strike in 1899. The newsies were protesting the attempt by the big newspaper publishers to squeeze more money from them. This book covers the same story as the Broadway musical, Newsies! Age Range: 5- 9

Call Number: x331.318 Brown.D

Title: Long Hard Journey: the story of the Pullman Porter
By: Patricia C. McKissack , Fredrick L. McKissack
Published: 1989

This is a detailed and essential chronicle of the first black-controlled union, made up of Pullman porters. After years of unfair labor practices, the Pullman porters staged a battle against a corporate giant resulting in a David and Goliath ending. Age Range: 11 and up

Call Number: x331.88 Mckis.P

Title: Malala, a Brave Girl from Pakistan/Iqbal, a Brave Boy from Pakistan: Two Stories of Bravery
By: Jeanette Winter
Published: 2014

Meet two heroes of Pakistan who stood up for the rights to freedom and education in these inspirational nonfiction tales from acclaimed author-illustrator Jeannette Winter. Two stories of bravery in one beautiful book! Age Range: 6 and up

Call Number: x331.31 Winte.J

Title: Memphis, Martin, and the Mountaintop : the sanitation strike of 1968
By: Alice Faye Duncan , R. Gregory Christie
Published: 2018

Nine-year-old Lorraine Jackson ,in 1968, witnessed the Memphis sanitation strike--Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s final stand for justice before his assassination--when her father, a sanitation worker, participated in the protest. Coretta Scott King Book Award Nominee, Illustrator (2019) Age Range: 9 - 12 years

Call Number: x331.892 Dunca.A

Title: On our way to Oyster Bay : Mother Jones and her march for children's rights
By: Monica Kulling , Felicita Sala
Published: 2016

Though eight-year-old Aidan and his friend Gussie want to go to school, like many other children in 1903, they work twelve hours, six days a week, at a cotton mill in Pennsylvania instead. So when the millworkers decide to go on strike, the two friends join the picket line. Age Range: 6 - 10 years

Call Number: xBiog Jones.M Kulli.M

Title: Side by Side/Lado a lado: The Story of Dolores Huerta and Cesar Chavez/La historia de Dolores Huerta y Cesar Chavez
By: Monica Brown
Published: 2010

Every day, thousands of farmworkers harvested the food that ended up on kitchen tables all over the country. But at the end of the day, when the workers sat down to eat, there were only beans on their own tables. Then Dolores Huerta and Cesar Chavez teamed up. Together they motivated the workers to fight for their rights and, in the process, changed history. Age Range: 4 - 8 years

Spanish xBiog Huert.D Brown.M (bilingual)

Title: ¡Sí, Se Puede! Yes, We Can!: Janitor Strike in L.A.
By: Diana Cohn and Francisco Delgado
Published: 2003

Set against the backdrop of the successful janitors' strike in Los Angeles in 2000, this story tells about Carlitos, whose mother is a janitor. She and the other janitors have decided to go on strike. How will Carlitos support his mother? (A bilingual book.) Age Range: 8 - 11 years

Call Number: Spanish JPicture Cohn.D

Title: That's Not Fair! / ¡No Es Justo!: Emma Tenayuca's Struggle for Justice/La lucha de Emma Tenayuca por la justicia
By: Carmen Tafolla
Published: 2008

This is the biography of Emma Tenayuca, who, in 1938, led 12,000 poor Mexican-American workers in a strike for better wages and living conditions. Age Range: 6 and up

Call Number: J921 Tenayuca (at Wilmette Public Library)

Title: Which Side Are You On? The Story of a Song
By: George Ella Lyon
Published: 2011

Which Side Are You On? tells the story of the classic union song that was written in 1931 by Florence Reece, in a rain of bullets. It has been sung by people fighting for their rights all over the world. Age Range: 8 - 11 years (violence)

Call Number: x782.421592 Lyon.G

Title: Yasmin's Hammer
By: Ann Malaspina
Published: 2010

In Bangladesh, Yasmin would prefer to go to school, but she must work to help her family. All day long, while she hammers at bricks, Yasmin dreams about what she would like to do if she could go to school. Age Range: 6 - 10 years

Call Number: J Malas.A