Lucy Fights the Flames - (Girls Survive) by Julie Gilbert (Paperback)

About the Book

It is 1911, and fourteen-year-old Lucia (Lucy) Morelli dreams of going to college, but for the present she lives with her large Italian family in a crowded apartment in New York City, and works as a sewing machine operator in the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory bringing home money because her father can no longer work--but this is March twenty-fifth, and Lucy will soon be fighting for her life as fire sweeps through the locked down factory trapping the workers inside.

Book Synopsis

In 1911, fourteen-year-old Lucy Morelli lives with her parents, older brother, and several youngers siblings in a crowded apartment in the Greenwich Village neighborhood of New York City. Lucy dreams of going to college, but her Italian immigrant family relies heavily on her income from the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory to survive. Lucy finds the factory work boring, but the working conditions are better than many other jobs. But when Lucy and her best friend, Rosie, head to work one Saturday in March, everything changes. Fire breaks out in the factory, and the doors are locked, trapping hundreds of workers inside. Lucy must battle the flames to save her own life -- and Rosie's. Readers can learn the real story of the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire, one of the deadliest industrial disaster's in U.S. history, from the nonfiction backmatter in this Girls Survive story. A glossary, discussion questions, and writing prompts are also provided.