Bread and roses, too

In Bread and Roses, Too by Katherine Paterson, Lawrence, Massachusetts, in 1912, is a difficult place to live for the immigrant textile mill workers and their families like Rosa Serutti and her family. When Rosa's mother and older sister join the strike for better wages and better working and living conditions, she is torn between her love and concern for her family and her desire to be just an American girl with the opportunities for a better life that education can give her.  Her fears are only increased when her mother chooses to send her to Barre, Vermont, where other Italian immigrants have offered to be foster families until the strike is over and the children can return home safely.  In Barre, Rosa has a warm, clean home, plenty to eat, and a chance to go to school without worrying about violence in the streets, but she fears for the safety of the rest of her family, especially after she learns that her mother and sister have been arrested and her baby brother has been taken from them.  This story is based on an actual strike in which children really were sent to foster families.

Awards and Honors:

• New York Public Library Best Books for Teen Age, 2007​
• VOYA’s 2006 Top Shelf Fiction for Middle School Readers
• Notable Social Studies Trade Book for Young People, 2007
• Christopher Award, 2006
• Parents’ Choice Gold Medal, Fall 2006, Historical Fiction

If you enjoy this book, you might also like the following books in the TA library:

Fiction

• Lyddie by Katherine Paterson
• Turn Homeward, Hannalee by Patricia Beatty

• Counting on Grace by Elizabeth Winthrop