Product Description

Lyddie Worthen must decide whether to risk losing her job running a loom at a dusty Massachusetts factory--a job she has taken to earn enough money to reunite her family--by protesting the poor working conditions. Reprint. AB. SLJ. K. H.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #7565465 in Books
• Published on: 1999-10
• Original language: Spanish
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Library Binding

From Publishers Weekly
In 1843, three years after her father abandons his failing Vermont farm, 10-year-old Lyddie and her younger brother Charles are hired out as servants, while Mama and the two youngest children go off to live with relatives. After spending a grueling year working in a tavern, Lyddie flees to Lowell, Mass., in hopes of finding a better job that will provide enough income to pay off farm debts and allow the family to be reunited. Life continues to be a struggle after she is employed in a cloth factory, but Lyddie finds refuge from wretched working conditions by burying herself in books. Learning that she cannot return home--the family farm has been sold to Quaker neighbors--the girl is seized by a burning desire to gain independence by attending college. Readers will sympathize with Lyddie's hardships and admire her determination to create a better life for herself. Paterson ( The Tale of the Mandarin Ducks ) clearly depicts the effects of poverty during the 19th century, focusing on the plight of factory workers enslaved by their dismal jobs. Impeccably researched and expertly crafted, this book is sure to satisfy those interested in America's industrialization period. Ages 10-14.
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Review
Rich in historical detail . . . a superb story of grit, determination, and personal growth. -- The Horn Book, starred review

Review
Rich in historical detail . . . a superb story of grit, determination, and personal growth. (The Horn Book, starred review)

Customer Reviews

Lyddie
I am a fifth grader in Massachusets and I read the book Lyddieby Katherine Paterson. I thought that it was a good book. This bookis about a girl naned Lyddie whose dad goes West to look for wealth. Her mom sends her and her brother off to be indentured. A little while later, Lyddie is dismissed because she went on a vacation. Then, she goes off to work at a mill in Lowell. Lyddie tries to make enough money to bring family back together but while she works at the mill a series of events change her life forever. I would recommend this book for anyone ten or older who is studing the Industrial Revloution.

Review of Lyddie
Lyddie was one of the best books I have read in a long time! Katherine Patterson really did a great job writting it. She made the book come alive. The way she wrote and explaned everything made it easy to understand. Also, you felt like you could have been Lyddie and experienced the same kind of stuff she did.

I think the best part of the book was while Lyddie worked in the factory. It ws almost as if you were a factory girl yourself. The factory is where Lyddie basically grew up. You find out alot about her and her life.

One of the most vivid elements was the setting. Even though there were alot of settings, I can see each one so well. One of the best things she does is to compare things to real life, like "The machines were like big monsters!" Another thing Katherine Paterson does well is describing her characters. I can see a picture of each one in my head so clearly. If I had to pick them out of a line up, I could. I will definatley read more books by Katherine Patterson!

Deep Troubles
I do like the book but there is one part that makes me mad; it was the way Lyddie reacted to something. In chapter 6 a man breaks into her house and when she goes to check on it, she finds him there. She was going to run but then she came back and he apologized for being there. She reacted too calmly in my opinion. Perhaps people were more trusting then in the 1840s but being a reader today, there is no way that anyone would be that calm with a stranger in their house.

Text to Text Connection and Passage: In another part of the book, Lyddie says "Truth be told, mama had gone somewhat queer in the head after their father had left....her eyes blank and still as though her spirit had gone away and left the body there rocking on and on." To say this she seems very grown up for a 12 year old-and taking care of her brother, moving to find a better job, working so hard to pay off her father's debt. This type of character is rare, but could be realistic.
With the way Lyddie describes her, the mother in this book also reminds me of Molly Morgan; they both seemed out of it when their husbands left in search of a job or "vain riches." The daughters seem to have more authority than the mothers. (Yet the passage also interested me because it has a horror story type quality and sounds "deep," very descriptive, poetic.)

Critical Reaction:

The way she tackles her problems is like the bear in the beginning of the novel. She stares it down. She left the inn job that was treating her like a slave and she faced the horrible conditions of the mill. She also had no real family to confide in or give her support. The mistress breathed down her neck and expected her to be perfect. The author made the bear a metaphor for all of these problems.

The tone of the story is plaintive--a girl is sent off to work to pay off the dept that her father has left behind with a querulous boss who is constantly checking up on her. The mother also didn't tell the children to their face that she was going to "rent them out" but wrote them a letter. The author explains the situation to make the reader feel sorry for Lyddie.

The author gives many details to show how that time period of the Industrialization is similar and different to this time period. Like today, people are judged by the way they are dressed. People give tithing to the church. There are problems with the working conditions, but today we have unions to fight for the workers. Girls are trained to be wives and mothers, to do the work and take care of children but today women have more choices. So even though it is a fictional novel, the reader still learns about another time period.

Recommendation: This book is for patient readers; those that don't abandoned books after the first chapter. Don't expect any explosions but the action picks up in chapter 6. Chapters 1-5 show how the characters were living, how they were uneducated, and the time period. Yet if you enjoy history and how women or children were treated, this book is for you. This book can actually teach you something.