This is a great book based loosely on a true story of an actual 12 year old Grace. Modern day slavery long after the Cicil War. You worked long hours six days a week, you lived in a company house and paid rent to the company, you bought groceries and clothing from the company store at higher prices and with interest and you were cheated by the company store because you were illiterate. Grace clung to that and in the end that was what saved her. There was one phrase that her teacher, Miss Lindsey, said to her.she was her second best reader. She did not understand the value of education because her parents did not. Grace left school because she wanted to go work in the mill. Her parents used a birth certificate of an older sister who died before Grace was born. Grace was barely 12 when she started at the mill. I ached for Grace as she struggled to please her parents and do well in the mill, and ached for her to find the better life that she longer for. It is well written, from the viewpoint of a young girl who describes what life is like for her and her friends and family. The author's story is the account of fictional characters (other than Mr. Because of his efforts, social change eventually came.

He used subterfuge to get access to some of the mills, and took photographs of the children who worked there for long hours in terrible conditions. He 'followed' them to the towns they settled in and discovered the issues of child labor laws that were not enforced. He had taken pictures of immigrants arriving at Ellis Island, and became curious about what happened to them after arriving in the U.S. It turns out that the photograph is rather famous it was taken by Edward Hines and still resides in a museum. The haunting photo on the book jacket drew my attention, and I just had to read the story. An outstanding book that I picked up in the children's section of my local library.

Counting on Grace by Elizabeth Winthrop