📖 Brave Girl: Clara and the Shirtwaist Makers' Strike of 1909 by Michelle Markel. This is the story of young Clara Lemlich, the Ukrainian immigrant, factory worker, and labor activist who led a successful 1909 strike at the shirtwaist factories in New York City. – ​Preschool • Elementary

📖 The House That Jane Built: A Story about Jane Addams by Tanya Lee Stone. Here is a lovely introduction to Jane Addams, who founded Hull House in Chicago in the late 19th century. Addams, a leader of the Reform movements around the turn of the century, was the first American woman to receive a Nobel Peace Prize. – Elementary

📖 Factory Girl by Barbara Greenwood. "At the dingy, overcrowded Acme Garment Factory, Emily Watson stands for eleven hours a day clipping threads from blouses . . . Emily's fictional experiences are interwoven with non-fiction sections describing family life in a slum, the fight to improve social conditions, the plight of working children then and now, and much more." Be warned that this book contains some sad elements. – Middle

📖 Kids on Strike! by Susan Campbell Bartoletti. Bartoletti examines the children's labor movement in this nearly 200-page nonfiction book, filled with photographs and first-hand accounts. Also see Bartoletti's Growing Up in Coal Country, which focuses on the lives of immigrant miners around the turn of the century. – Middle

📖 Mill by David Macaulay. Follow the building and operation of a fictional 19th century New England mill in this excellent title from acclaimed author David Macaulay. As always, the illustrations are magnificent, and the text provides fascinating historical detail. – All

📖 Fire at the Triangle Factory by Holly Littlefield. This is a fictional story of two girls caught in the infamous Triangle Shirtwaist Company fire. Written in easy reader format, this is a good independent read to include in a unit on this topic; the reading level is fairly simple, though the subject matter is heavy. – Elementary

📖 Flesh and Blood So Cheap by Albert Marrin. "On March 25, 1911, the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory in New York City burst into flames. The factory was crowded. The doors were locked to ensure workers stay inside. One hundred forty-six people—mostly women—perished . . . But the story of the fire is not the story of one accidental moment in time." Marrin examines the conditions that led to the tragic fire, and that reforms that followed as a result. At nearly 200 pages, this is an in-depth book for older students. – Middle • High

📺 Triangle Fire - American Experience from PBS. "The Triangle Fire chronicles the fire that tore through the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory in New York City killing one hundred and forty-eight young women and forever changed the relationship between labor and industry in the United States." – Middle • High

All-of-a-Kind Family by Sydney Taylor. “Meet the All-of-a-Kind Family—Ella, Henny, Sarah, Charlotte, and Gertie—who live with their parents in New York City at the turn of the century. Together they share adventures that find them searching for hidden buttons while dusting Mama's front parlor and visiting with the peddlers in Papa's shop on rainy days.” Highly recommended. – Elementary

The Journal of Finn Reardon: A Newsie by Susan Campbell Bartoletti. “When his father dies, Finn Reardon must support his family by selling newspapers on the streets of Manhattan, where he finds himself in the middle of the Newsie Strike of 1899. … [W]hen the two biggest newspaper publishers, Hearst and Pulitzer, raise the wholesale price that Finn and his friends pay for the papers they sell, the boys band together and go on strike.” This is a title in the popular My Name is America series – Elementary • Middle