Mother Jones and Her Army of Mill Children by Jonah Winter (review)
Buy Issue for $25 at JHUP- Mother Jones and Her Army of Mill Children by Jonah Winter
Winter, Jonah Mother Jones and Her Army of Mill Children; illus. by Nancy Carpenter. Schwartz & Wade, 2020 [38p] Library ed. ISBN 978-0-449-81292-1 $20.99 Trade ed. ISBN 978-0-449-81291-4 $17.99 E-book ed. ISBN 978-0-449-81293-8 $10.99 Reviewed from galleys Ad 6-9 yrs
Early twentieth-century union activist and provocateur Mary Harris, better known as Mother Jones, describes how laboring in textile mills was robbing the youngest workers of their childhoods, their education, their health, and even their body parts, and how outrage on the youngsters' behalf led her to organize a Children's Crusade on foot from Philadelphia to New York to protest abysmal working conditions and raise public awareness of just who these workers were that supply the nation with fabric goods. Over 100 kids began the march with her, dwindling down to thirty-seven in New York City, and to three stalwarts who made it to President Theodore Roosevelt's house on Long Island, where they were turned away. The march was still deemed a success, though: "The Children's Crusade shined a great big SPOTLIGHT on child labor." The fictionalized but enthusiastic voice of Mother Jones and Carpenter's rousing black, gray, and beige watercolor and digital scenes are bound to catch listener interest, while the road trip itself will surely pique their imaginations. However, this quick step, presented as both a taxing trek and a bit of a lark, leaves lots of logistical questions unanswered, not the least of which involve basic plans for eating, sleeping, adult chaperoning, Coney Island admissions, ferry fares, and transport home for those who dropped out. Still, the Crusade is an engaging topic for starting discussion of child labor in America's past and the worldwide child-labor abuses that continue today. An author's note, bibliography, and period photographs are appended.
