Emily has to read a book over the summer and do some sort of project to prove that she read and understood her book. This is pure and absolute torture for her (and for me). Last year, she did it with minimal yelling and screaming (on both our parts). This year, I think she will object less. The book she chose to read is Uprising by Margaret Haddix and I finished reading it this morning, so now it's her turn to read it. (My new approach to the girls summer reading is to read their books, too, so that I can help them when they get stuck. It was near to impossible last summer to help guide Emily when I had no clue what her book was about.) It might be the most interesting book for teens that I have ever read. I was moved and touched by this story. Much like The Hunger Games, I think adults might be drawn to this book as much as teens.
Uprising is based on two real-life events: The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire of 1911 and the shirtwaist strike of 1909-10. Knowing that these are real events, I think, will help draw Emily into this action packed, dramatic story. I think she will also be outraged by the clear discrimination the factory girls receive and the horrible working conditions they are subjected to just because they are girls. There's also lots of talk of suffrage in Uprising, which also interests Emily (she gets very upset when girls can't do things just because they are girls).
The story is told in alternating chapters (my favorite style) by Yetta, Bella, and Jane. It begins years and years after the fire, when a character who was five at the time returns and asks to hear the story from start to finish, as she was too young then to have understood. Through flashbacks, we meet Yetta, Bella, and Jane--all young girls, all very different. Yetta, from Russia, speaks Yiddish and is learning English. She lives with her sister Rahel and is working to bring her parents to America. Bella, from Italy, is working to send money to her parents. Jane, on the other hand, is American and rich. Very rich. But, she feels just as trapped by rules and unfair laws as the other girls. The contrast between the three girls, and the idea that even money in 1910 couldn't buy you equality and the right of vote, is very compelling. Haddix does an amazing job developing these girls in such a way that you can see them, you can feel their pain, and you want things to turn out differently for each of them. There is a bit of suspense in the story, too, as the flashback is told by Mrs. Livingston, who we know to be one of the three girls, but we don't know which one, as she clearly has been married and taken a new name, until the very end of the book when the flashback concludes and we are returned to the conversation between Harriet, the now grown up five year old, and Mrs. Livingston, who reveals her identity to the readers (but I won't because I don't want to ruin the story).
I am so glad that Emily is being given the opportunity to read this book. She might learn something along the way, but more importantly, I hope she is inspired to not just sit by and watch life go by. I hope she finds the spirit inside her to stand up for causes that she believes in, that she will stand up for injustice, that she will not be afraid to voice her opinion because she is a girl.
I have often believed and voiced my thought that the real reason twenty-somethings and younger are the way they are is because they have never been afraid, or mad, about anything truly important. My mother's generation fought for equal rights for women and witnessed equal rights for blacks being put into place. My generation was scared to death of nuclear war and spent most of our life in fear of being killed by radiation. But when the wall came down, so did the fear many of us carried around. The desire for change disappeared and for a long time we have lived with everything we need, and then some. The great cause that so many generations found to bind people together is suddenly gone. I guess we could see terrorism against the US as a great cause, but even that, with OBL gone, has died down a bit. It is my belief that this great cause, this fear, this need to fight for something we believe in, is what's lacking with the newest generation of young people. They haven't known discrimination, gender bias, fear of death at a young age, and they have become complacent, and are beginning to take a wonderful life for granted. It is my hope for my girls, that by reading books like Uprising, that they can be reminded of how truly lucky they are and to be thankful for the girls of generations before who paved a smooth road for them.
Uprising is a wonderful read. Pick it up. Read it. Be inspired. Be thankful.
Now, off to something a little less literary and more juicy: Revenge Wears Prada--The Devil Returns. I am so excited I can't stand it!
Happy Reading everyone!
:) Dodie
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