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Shea, Pegi Deitz, and Leane Morin. The Carpet Boy's Gift. Gardiner, ME: Tilbury House Publishers, 2006. Age Range: 6 and up Leadership comes easily for Nadeem, the biggest and oldest boy in a rug factory in Pakistan. But how can he lead the other child laborers to freedom after he's been shamed and beaten for his first attempt? Nadeem and his fellow workers are bonded laborers, children who work day and night to pay off loans their families have accepted from a factory owner. While Nadeem and his cousin Amina take pride in helping their poor families, they feel trapped. They yearn to go to school and to have time to play. One day a former carpet boy named Iqbal Masih leads a parade in the village. New laws have abolished bonded labor! Iqbal urges Nadeem to fight for freedom and to lead the children to a new school in town. Can Nadeem summon the courage to try again? This fictional story honors the legacy of Iqbal Masih, a real boy who had escaped from a factory. Protected and educated, he worked to liberate child workers like Nadeem by the thousands. His work won him the ReebokYouth in Action award and special recognition at the International Labor Conference. When he returned to Pakistan after his trip, he was fatally shot while riding his bicycle. He was only twelve, but he had already made a difference in children's lives all over the world. Resources at the end of the story lead to more information about child labor issues and encourage children to support companies that work to make the world a better place for all.

Elizabeth Winthrop, Counting on Grace (New York: Yearling, 2007). Age Level: 8 and up Publisher Description: 1910. Pownal, Vermont. At 12, Grace and her best friend Arthur must leave school and go to work as a "doffers" on their mothers' looms in the mill. Grace's mother is the best worker, fast and powerful, and Grace desperately wants to help her. But she's left handed and doffing is a right-handed job. Grace's every mistake costs her mother, and the family. She only feels capable on Sundays, when she and Arthur receive special lessons from their teacher. Together they write a secret letter to the Child Labor Board about underage children working in Pownal. A few weeks later a man with a camera shows up. It is the famous reformer Lewis Hine, undercover, collecting evidence for the Child Labor Board. Grace's brief acquaintance with Hine and the photos he takes of her are a gift that changes her sense of herself, her future, and her family's future.

Guillain, Adam, and Elke Steiner. Bella's Chocolate Surprise. London: Milet Publishing, 2008. Age Range: 7 - 9 years | Series: Bella Balistica Lessons about fair trade are at the center of this adventure that begins on Bella's birthday. Her mother has baked a chocolate cake and, delicious though it is, Bella begins to wonder where chocolate comes from. With the help of her friend the Quetzal bird, Bella harnesses the powers of her mystical pendant and flies to Ghana in West Africa, where she befriends a group of children working in the cacao fields. She soon learns that they are part of a collective that guarantees a fair income to workers and pays for the children to go to school. Delighting in her new cross-cultural friendships, Bella starts to plan how to get people from home involved in supporting fair-trade practices around the world.

Rockliff, Mara. Get Real: What Kind of World are YOU Buying? Philadelphia, PA: Running Press Kids, 2010. Age Range: 10 and up Publisher's Description: Rockliff outlines how mass consumerism is harming our planet, and specifically how teens can use their purchasing power to enact change. She cites examples of products that teens use frequently (high-tech electronics, clothing, junk food, etc.) and explains how their production often harms the people who make them, the environment, and, potentially, the end consumer. She explains that a chocolate bar was most likely made with cacao beans harvested by exploited workers, and that a cell phone contains enough heavy metals to seriously harm our groundwater. She covers (un)fair labor practices, environmental pillaging, factory farming, excessive marketing, local vs. corporate stores, and the pervasive throwaway mentality that drives the whole cycle. The author's in-your-face approach makes her points while still engaging readers-she is never didactic or overbearing. She encourages teens to make a difference in their world by making small changes to things they do already-buying fair-trade chocolate or saving up for an organic cotton T-shirt. The pop-art illustrations are clever and illustrative of many points. The impressive bibliography provides lists of documentaries, websites, books, articles, and other sources to help teens find out how their favorite products came to be (and came to be so cheap). Learning more about how these products are made just might make some teens think twice about their buying habits.

Susan Campbell Bartoletti, Growing Up In Coal Country (New York: Sandpiper, 1999). Age Level: 8 and up Publisher Description: Inspired by her in-laws' recollections of working in coal country, Susan Campbell Bartoletti has gathered the voices of men, women, and children who immigrated to and worked in northeastern Pennsylvania at the turn of the century. The story that emerges is not just a story of long hours, little pay, and hazardous working conditions; it is also the uniquely American story of immigrant families working together to make a new life for themselves. It is a story of hardship and sacrifice, yet also of triumph and the fulfillment of hopes and dreams.

Susan Campbell Bartoletti, Kids on Strike! (New York: Sandpiper, 2003). Age Level: 9 and up Publisher Description: By the early 1900s, nearly two million children were working in the United States. From the coal mines of Pennsylvania to the cotton mills of New England, children worked long hours every day under stunningly inhumane conditions. After years and years of oppression, children began to organize and make demands for better wages, fairer housing costs, and safer working environments. Some strikes led by young people were successful; some were not. Some strike stories are shocking, some are heartbreaking, and many are inspiring - but all are a testimony to the strength of mind and spirit of the children who helped build American industry.

Jane Kurtz, Bicycle Madness (New York: Henry Holt and Company, 2003). Age Level: 7 and up Publisher Description: Lillie is having a difficult year. She's still struggling with her mother's recent death, and now her father has moved the family to the other side of town. But when Frances Willard-Lillie's new neighbor-decides to learn how to ride a bicycle, Lillie finds promising change all around her. Even though her father disapproves of their progressive neighbor, Lillie and Miss Frances soon become friends. Miss Frances is involved in more than taming a wild bike, however; she is part of Susan B. Anthony's circle, fighting for the right for women to vote, as well as child-labor laws and better conditions for workers. Together, Lillie and Miss Frances take on their beasts-a bike and a daunting spelling bee-and find the will to dust themselves off, get back up, and ride for all they're worth. Set in the late 1800s, this engaging novel skillfully blends fine storytelling with women's history.