Audacity (366 Pages)

Melanie Crowder, the author of Audacity, has written in free verse a wonderful book of historical significance. She focuses on Clara Lemlich's life. Lemlich was a Russian Jew who immigrated to the US with her family at the start of the 20th century. Arriving in New York, she found it necessary to get a job in a garment factory. The working conditions were horrible: seven days a week, only two toilet breaks a day, foremen who changed the pay at a whim, sexual advances by the man in charge, locked in the workroom with no way to get out, and any complaint led to immediate firing. Clara became a spokeswoman for women's rights. The labor movement holds Clara gratitude for paving the way to unions for female workers. The book also encompasses information about life in a lower East side Manhattan tenements and the religious values and strict observances of the Jewish men. Clara wanted to become a doctor, but she never realized that dream because of her work to create safe work environments. However, she was definitely self-educated and much of the book deals with her struggle against her father in her her desire to read, learn English, and write.