Baker, Julie

When union members arrive to organize their West Virginia coal mining town, fourteen-year-old Clarence Henderson, shunned for his cleft lip, and his neighbor Elizabeth Braxton narrate the changes in their own lives and in the lives of everyone in their community.

Tells the story of the 1871 whaleship disaster where all thirty-two ships became trapped in the ice in Alaska and over 1,200 men, women, and children had to find a way back to civilization.

Examines the conditions that led to the 1912 workers' strike in Lawrence, Massachusetts between textile laborers and the factory owners.