Julie Kathleen Gilbert

Trigger warnings: Death of children and friends in a fire, grief and loss depiction
Score: Four and a half points out of ten.

Wow, this was terrible in every way imaginable. The story and characters were flat (especially the main character Lucy Morelli, or Lucy for short, she just wanted to be part of a workers' union and then worked in a factory and saved people when it caught fire, and that's it?), there was a plot point about unions, but it wasn't explored that much, and three of the characters died in a fire, which was horrific. The working conditions weren't explored in this book either, but they were abysmal in real life since the workers were underpaid. Lucy doesn't fight the flames, no... Rather she survives it with her life barely intact, but some...not so much. The ending was quite depressing since the book ended on a memorial procession of those who died in the fire, which was melancholy but a nice touch. I wouldn't recommend this to anyone, especially not young readers. If you want to discover more about this event, research it instead of reading this novel.… (meer)

A highly topical book for the Girls' Survive series. It's so topical, in fact, that it's anxiety-producing to read, and it's quite disappointing that the afterword does not reflect the current crisis at all. While the research level in this book is high, the writing lets it down somewhat -- there are so many inexplicable bits and pieces -- why does Daisy feel responsible for her mother's death? Why does Bertha treat her so badly? Why does Daisy ignore all of the advice to isolate in order to avoid infection? Her careless behavior doesn't make a difference one way or the other, anyway, but it enhances the feeling of powerlessness. I think the author has potential, and there's good stuff in here, too, but this particular book is lacking something. Also, I continue to dislike this illustrator. Maybe I'm just having an off day.… (meer)