Counting on Grace

by Elizabeth Winthrop

Paper Book, 2006

Description

It's 1910 in Pownal, Vermont. At 12 Grace and her best friend Arthur must go to work in the mill, helping their mothers work the looms. Together Grace and Arthur write a secret letter to the Child Labor Board about underage children working in the mill. A few weeks later, Lewis Hine, a famous reformer arrives undercover to gather evidence. Grace meets him and appears in some of his photographs, changing her life forever.

Status

Available

Call number

[Fic]

Genres

Fiction

Publication

New York : Random House/Wendy Lamb Books, 2007, c2006.

Collection

Labor Movement

Media reviews

Booklist

BookList Review Gr. 6-9. Inspired by a Lewis Hine photo of a child at work in a Vermont cotton mill in the early twentieth century, Winthrop imagines the story of Grace, 12, torn from her one-room schoolhouse and forced to work long hours in the textile mill as a "doffer," turning cotton into

thread, alongside her mother, in the spinning room. The child-labor story is gripping--the dangerous working conditions, the work of activists who sought to publicize the abuse--and although sometimes the research overwhelms the story, Grace's present-tense narrative makes the history heartbreaking. Grace is no sweet victim. Furious at having to leave school and distressed by her failure to satisfy her French Canadian immigrant family, she quarrels with her best friend and smart ex-classmate, who deliberately injures himself on the machines to get back in school. The fiction is framed by notes about Hine and a bibliography that will lead readers to such books as Russell Freedman's Kids at Work: Lewis Hine and the Crusade against Child Labor0 (1994) as well as to accounts of abuse today. --Hazel Rochman Copyright 2006 Booklist Distributed by Syndetic Solutions, Inc.

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User reviews

LibraryThing member SandSing7

One of the best audiobook recordings I've heard. The music really served to support the plot, and the reading itself was wonderfully done. I don't know if I would have enjoyed the book as much without these flourishes.

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LibraryThing member yamatos

Counting on Grace was a great book while showing a little girls view of child labor in ways you could never see it.During 1920, mainly twelve year old Grace Forcier is forced to work in a mill to be able to help her family.Grace and her best friend Arthur, with the help of their teacher, write a

letter to the Child Labor Board.

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LibraryThing member litelady-ajh

Great Book!! Historical fiction at its best, excellent book for tweens - might make them thankful that child labor is no more (at least in USA).

LibraryThing member lianedewan

A novel based on a photograph taken a young girl working in a mill in the early 1900's. This a story of a 12 year old girl named Grace who is taken out of school and sent to work in the mill. The horrible conditions that she and her best firend Arthur are working in causes Grace to write a letter

about all of the underage workers in their mill. Arthur wants to escape so badly that he takes matters into his own hands.

This is a wonderful piece of literature for all ages. It is a real eye opener to the conditions of the mills at this time and the fact that children as young a 8 years old were working the machinery.

Classroom Extensions:
1) Have students write a report about children's labor laws in the U.S.
2) Do a webquest of an old mill as a class.

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LibraryThing member onedixie

This was a Vermont Reads book for 2007 a community read. The author is local within 25 miles and part of the group went to meet her. The mill is also within 25 miles this added to the interst of the book. Highly recommend!

LibraryThing member kthomp25

Grace Forcier's fictional story is based on actual photographs taken of mill children by Lewis Hine. Grace is 12 years old when she begins working at her mother's side, 13 hours a day, 6 day a week.

She becomes good friends with Arthur, who is forced out of school and into the mill at age 12 so his

mother and he can continue living in mill housing. Even though child labor laws existed, they were not being enforced in Vermont. Parents wanted their children to work and supplied false papers.

Arthur wants to leave the mill so badly, he deliberately puts his hand into the machinery. Grace herself has a close call and decides she wants to teach.

Pair this book with Lyddie by Katherine Patterson (1840s mill work in Massachusetts), and Growing up in Coal Country, a non-fiction by Bartoletti set in Pennsylvannia late 1880s and early 1900s.

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LibraryThing member anneklee

This was a very moving book on the struggles of children working in a spinning mill in 1910. When two brave students, Grace and Arthur, are pulled out of the classroom to work in the mill, their lives turn to chaos. Arthur wants desparately to get out of the mill, and goes to extreme measures to do

so, putting his hand into the machine, which causes him to lose 2 fingers. The chidlren are encouraged to write to the National Child Labor Commitee by a teacher which would result in their parents not having enough money to survive. They are faced with much conflict throughout this book, but in the end Grace leaves the mill and becomes a teacher.

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LibraryThing member egv

Grace Forcier and her friend Arthur, both 12 and the best readers in the mill school, are forced to suspend their educations to doff bobbins for their mothers frames in the spinning room. While this is difficult for left-handed Grace, Arthur is desperate to escape the terrible conditions and not to

mention noisy factory. Miss Lesley, their teacher, helps them write a letter to the National Child Labor Committee about underage kids, as young as eight, working in their mill!

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LibraryThing member kristine.rouska

This book was an important story about child labor and the plight of many immigrant families in the United States. It was a well written story for children 10 and older. It is a great tool for anyone looking to teach the history of child labor laws in an entertaining way.

LibraryThing member daisyacg

5Q 3P
This is a very historical book and grapples with very hard issues. Without much humor or romance or other light-hearted qualities, some children may not feel comfortable reading about these issues. It is a difficult book to read at times, but offer hope and suggest future opportunities are now

available for Grace. The language, the historical facts and setting, in addition to the depth of characters make this of very high quality.

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LibraryThing member chermom5

This fascinating book tells the story of Grace, a 12-year-old girl who works in a Vermont textile mill in the early 20th century. She must leave school to help support her family, and in the process realizes the value of education and that she really can follow her dreams.

LibraryThing member darleenanderson

Elizabeth Winthrop's inspiration to write Counting on Grace started from a photograph of a young girl displayed at an exhibition of child labor photographs taken by Lewis Hine.The picture was so moving to Elizabeth she imagined and created Grace, and her story. In this story Grace and her best

friend have to leave school to help their mothers work in the cotton mill so they can earn enough money for their survival needs. Their teacher holds school for the two friends on Sundays and has them write letters to a reporter about how they are working with their mothers at such a young age. This story pulls readers in to experience the delight, sorrow, perseverance, unconditional love, anger, respect, and determination of this young girl, her family, her friend and family, and her teacher , inspiring readers of all ages . This would be a good book for students to learn about child labor and the history of it.

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LibraryThing member nancynova

Historical fiction based on the picture of a young girl in front of a bobbin machine in a New England factory. Grace doesn't want to quit school, but her mother needs her at the factory to be her "doffer" at her thread looms. So at age 12, she's proud to be doing her part to help support the

family. But her best friend from school causes his own accident at a machine to get out of factory work...and gets his single Mom and him thrown out of the company housing. The author meticulously researched the life of these children, to bring this story to life.

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LibraryThing member Salsabrarian

Grace and her French-Canadian family live in a mill town in Vermont.
Grace is looking forward to helping support the family by working as a
doffer with her mother in the fabric mill, but her teacher Miss Lesley
insists that all the kids get their education. She particularly
encourages Grace to

study for the Normal School certification test and become a teacher. Instead, Grace joins her family at the mill but finds herself unsuited to the monotony and hard work. During one of her shifts, a photographer visitssss the mill on the ruse of photographing machinery for the "head office." It is actually Lewis Hines of the National Child Labor Committee. He promises Grace and her friend Arthur that he will work on getting them out of the mill. Miss Lesley, too, is active in exposing the abuse of child labor. Grace eventually does escape the mill with her parents' blessing: Miss Lesley has been fired for her anti-mill activity and Grace is teaching temporarily, with hopes for a better future.

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LibraryThing member Rascalstar

This book, written for about 8-12-year-olds, is one adults can enjoy as well. It's historical fiction, based on facts and real people. The story and the cover photo of a real girl are both haunting. Grace, who can speak both French and English and can read, is sent to work in a mill in 1910

Vermont. Her mother and sister work there, as do many in her small town. She misses school and her friend Arthur, who also reads well. This is the story of child labor in factories, of Grace's family and others, and events that happen during this time. Grace is a spunky child with a sharp awareness of herself and others. Wonderful book for young readers and adults alike. Well researched.

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LibraryThing member caliesunshine

I absolutely believe that this novel could help children to understand and care about history. Children went to work when they were only in what would be our equivalent of middle school. If that doesn’t help a child today understand what life was like, I’m not sure what would. Especially when

the author talks about what the mill was like and what they did every day for 12 hours.

This novel did help me to understand the time period. I understood what it was like for immigrants at the time. They really didn’t have any choice in how their lives would turn out. They lived in mill housing, they had to work in mills, or they would be homeless.

I don’t know that this novel made me want to learn more about the time period. It made me want to learn more about child labor. Counting on Grace helped me understand the tight spot families were in at the time.

The themes in Counting on Grace could be relevant to our time. Children often do drop out of high school to get jobs at 15 and 16 to help their families with finances. The novel does talk about how important it is for families to stick together, not explicitly, but the fact that housing is multi-generational speaks volumes.

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