Shutting Out the Sky

Description

Life in the Tenements of New York, 1880-1924

By Deborah Hopkinson
Orchard Books
Ages: 9 to 12

Acclaimed author Deborah Hopkinson recounts the lives of five immigrants to New York’s Lower East Side through oral histories and engaging narrative. We hear Romanian-born Marcus Ravage’s disappointment when his aunt pushes him outside to peddle chocolates on the street. And about the pickle cart lady who stored her pickles in a rat-infested basement. We read Rose Cohen’s terrifying account of living through the Triangle Shirtwaist fire, and of Pauline Newman’s struggles to learn English. But through it all, each one of these kids keeps working, keeps hoping, to achieve their own American dream.