Counting on Grace

Lili Gamache creates a remarkably resourceful and sympathetic character in Grace Forcier, a 12-year-old girl who leaves school to work at the mill in a Vermont town in 1910. COUNTING ON GRACE is an excellent historical novel inspired by the real-life photograph of a mill child taken by child labor activist Lewis Hines. Grace is a wide-eyed girl who wants so much to help her family earn more money, to learn to read with her teacher on Sundays, and ultimately to become a teacher; and that enthusiasm and frustration are faithfully translated. Another highlight is Gamache's interpretation of Grace's mother as a proud French-Canadian mill worker and a force to be reckoned with. The music seems slightly overused but doesn't mar a stunning production. A.B. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award (c) AudioFile 2007, Portland, Maine

March 27, 2006
The feisty heroine of Winthrop's (The Castle in the Attic
) novel set in a 1910 Vermont mill town brings child labor issues into sharp focus. Twelve-year-old Grace, who narrates, chafes against her teacher Miss Lesley's rules: "Seems she cares more about sitting still than learning." But when Grace must leave school to doff her mother's looms as an underage worker, she yearns for her former challenges. Winthrop effectively lays out the mill town's subsistence economy. Readers will understand why Grace's mother saved her deceased infant's papers in order to fake Grace's age (the child would have been 14, the age requirement for mill workers). One uplifting subplot follows Grace and classroom rival Arthur who become friends and co-workers in the mill and begin secret lessons with Miss Lesley. But the most compelling thread of the novel chronicles the mounting tension between Grace and her demanding mother, who dominates the other workers ("Only thing bigger and bossier than my mother in the spinning room is the frames"). The scene in which Arthur and Miss Lesley write the Child Labor Bureau may be rather forced, but a visit from Lewis Hine, who photographs the underage mill workers, feeding Grace's sense of connection to the world, seems believable. This enlightening novel explores the perils of mill work for children and adults alike. Readers will cheer when Grace uses her smarts to triumph over the mill store's corrupt bookkeeper, and the implication that she could well find a calling outside this mill town. Ages 8-14.

September 1, 2007
Gr 5-8 -Elizabeth Winthrop's novel (Wendy Lamb Books, 2006) is set in 1910 Vermont. At first, 12-year-old Grace and her family are thrilled that she's leaving school to work in the mill. The pennies that she earns will help the family get out of debt. Grace works as a doffer at the mill, but she's left-handed and finds the work difficult. When Lewis Hines, photographer-reformer, comes to the mill, the lives of Grace and her friend Arthur change. They work secretly with the child labor commission to expose the conditions at the mill. Frequent background music and Lili Gamache's frantic narration during dramatic plot turns sometimes makes it difficult to follow the story. Bonus features include an interview with the author detailing her research and writing process. An excellent blend of history and fiction.Karen T. Bilton, Mary Jacobs Memorial Library, Rocky Hill, NJ

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