Book #23: Uprising

I finished Uprising by Margaret Peterson Haddix this morning, and I have to say that it was 329 pages of pure pleasure.
Margaret Peterson Haddix  is another very good author. She wrote Double Identity, which was one of my favorite books when I was in fifth grade. I had only read her science fiction books, wanted to try something of hers that was different. Also, one of my friends had been pestering me to read Uprising for a very long time, so I did.
Uprising is about three girls living in New York in 1910. One girl, Bella, is a new immigrant from Italy and is working for the Triangle Shirtwaist Company, and another, Yetta, is on the streets, striking for union recognition and justice from Triangle. While all of this is going on, Jane, a wealthy girl,  meets the two girls and starts getting involved, helping the girls strike and eventually coming to live with them. Throughout the year, the girls become friends, and all seems well until that awful day in 1911, when the Triangle Shirtwaist Company fire changes everything(I'm not going to tell you what happens at the end, so you'll have to read it yourself!).
This book highlighted the "American Dream" very well. Girls were working for money to bring their families over from Europe, and many adults were working so that they could have enough money for their children to have a wonderful and prosperous life. However, there are also the people who thought money was the only thing in the world, and they extreamly effected and manipulated the lives of the immigrants.
Uprising is one of those books that makes you sympathize with the characters and want to yell at the business men when they do something unjust to the girls. Those kinds of books are always the best. I thought that it wasn't very predictable, which I liked, so that we don't know what happens at the end. Overall, I thought the characters were well developed, and the dialogue was believable. I think it was realistic, it had a lot of truth about the lives of the immigrants in the early 1900s. I also liked how, while reading this book,  I learned a lot about the strike before the fire. I actually didn't know there was a strike before the fire, so, I guess you really do learn something new every day. I would give Uprising, 4.5 stars out of 5.
Now, on to book 24! I don't know what it will be yet, so I'll have to figure it out.