In The Breaker Boys by Pat Hughes, Nate Tanner is a rich boy whose family owns coal mines near Hazleton, PA. He has everything a kid could want or need - except a friend. Then he meets Johnny an easygoing Polish American boy who works sorting coal in a filthy, dark building called a breaker. Unaware that Nate is the boss's son, Johnny invites him to play baseball with the breaker boys. As the summer of 1897 progresses, Nate finds himself piling lie on top of lie to keep his identity a secret from Johnny, and the friendship a secret from his family. It also becomes harder and harder for Nate to accept the treatment of the miners and their families.
You might also like the following books from the TA library:
Fiction
- The Coal Miner's Bride: The Diary of Anetka Kaminska by Susan Campbell Bartoletti
- Chase by Jessie Haas
- The Miner's Daughter by Gretchen Moran Laskas
- Breaker Boys: How a Photograph Helped End Child Labor by Michael Burgan
- Growing Up in Coal Country by Susan Campbell Bartoletti
- Kids on Strike by Susan Campbell Bartoletti