Counting on Grace, a novel by Elizabeth Winthrop

2008-2009 WAW Award Nominee for Grades 6-8

Genre: historical fiction

Characters: Grace Forcier, Arthur, Miss Lesley, Pepe, Mamere, Papa, Delia, Lewis Hine, French Johnny

Setting: a cotton textile mill in the town of North Pownal, Vermont

Plot: This is a story about the use of child labor in a cotton mill circa 1910. The book's cover features the picture of an actual girl who worked in such a mill. The picture was taken by Lewis Hine, who investigated and documented the practice, and who appears as a character in the story itself.

The theme of child labor is reminiscent of a 2006-07 William Allen White nominee, The Breaker Boys, which focuses on the use of child labor in the coal mines of Pennsylvania. In The Breaker Boys, the plot focuses primarily on Polish-Americans, and in Counting on Grace, the story focuses on French-speaking Canadians.

232 pages, 33 chapters

Related Sites

• Author's website

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