In Factory Girl, veteran writer Barbara Greenwood chronicles life for early-20th-century child labourers in North America. To bring this history alive, Greenwood creates Emily, a young girl forced to leave school and find work after her family falls on hard times. At 12, she is two years too young to find legitimate work, and must take a position as a thread-snipper at a garment factory, in an industry that regularly employs child workers because they are cheap, uncomplaining, and easily replaceable. Emily joins a crew of girls and young women, most of whom speak little English, to work exhausting hours, in taxing conditions, for little pay. Though she is pursued by a newspaper reporter who wants to expose this appalling situation, Emily refuses to talk until a fire at the factory kills one of her friends.

Greenwood supplements Emily’s story with chapters that provide further information and context, explaining, for instance, the economic conditions that create this situation, and describing other forms of work children performed. Connecting Emily’s experiences to those faced by children in contemporary sweatshops, the author demonstrates the ongoing relevance of this issue.

Emily’s story incorporates myriad social and historical threads, including the rising labour movement and the difficulties faced by immigrants, but Greenwood is adept at making such lessons a seamless part of the narrative. The entire text is designed for interest and access, with a brief index, glossary, and timeline, and plenty of historical photographs.

Factory Girls succeeds where so many similar books fail: it is an educational book that manages to be both compelling and eye-opening. For these reasons, it will be a welcome resource for teachers as well as its target readers.