City of Grit and Gold by Maud Macrory Powell - Review

I received this book free from the publisher

Book Details:

Age Range: 8 - 12 years

Grade Level: 3 - 7

Paperback: 164 pages

Publisher: Allium Press of Chicago (April 25, 2017)

ISBN-13: 978-0996755856

About the book:

The streets of Chicago in 1886 are full of turmoil. Striking workers clash with police…illness and injury lurk around every corner…and twelve-year-old Addie must find her way through it all. Torn between her gruff Papa—who owns a hat shop and thinks the workers should be content with their American lives—and her beloved Uncle Chaim—who is active in the protests for the eight-hour day—Addie struggles to understand her topsy-turvy world, while keeping her family intact. Set in a Jewish neighborhood of Chicago during the days surrounding the Haymarket Affair, this novel vividly portrays one immigrant family’s experience, while also eloquently depicting the timeless conflict between the haves and the have-nots.

Meet the author - Maud Macrory Powell:

Maud Macrory Powell comes from a family of writers. She was born and raised in Washington, DC. She studied comparative religion in college and environmental studies in graduate school. She now lives in rural Oregon with her family, where they run an organic farm and she teaches at Oregon State University. Her essay “The Fruits of My Labor” was published in the anthology Greenhorns: The Next Generation of American Farmers. This is her debut novel.

My thoughts:

I really enjoyed reading about Addie. For me this was a quick but very informative book. The author did a good job of capturing the time and place of this story. Even though this book was meant for young adults it was a good book for adults as well. I enjoyed reading about how the family understood each other's feelings but at the same time had different feelings about the issues at hand. A good for by a new author.