Lyddie

by Katherine Paterson
Lexile: 860
Genre: Historical Fiction

Lyddie Worthen is all alone. Her father has left, her mother and siblings have gone off to live with others. Lyddie hears about the mills in Lowell, MA who will hire young girls to work. Excited about the idea of being able to earn a decent wage to pay off the debts owed on her family's farm, she heads to the factory. But factory life is harder than she ever expected. Working 6 days a week from dawn to dusk in the hot, crowed, noisy weaving loom room is very hard. Girls are starting to talk about signing petitions to complain about the working conditions. Lyddie will have to make a choice - join the organizers or continue to work as her overseer sees fit.