Shutting Out the Sky: Life in the Tenements of New York 1880-1924 - Hardcover

by Deborah Hopkinson (Author)

In a stunning nonfiction debut, award-winning author Deborah Hopkinson focuses on five immigrants' stories to reveal the triumphs and hardships of early 1900s immigrant life in New York.

Acclaimed author Hopkinson recounts the lives of five immigrants to New York's Lower East Side through oral histories and engaging narrative. We hear Romanian-born Marcus Ravage's disappointment when his aunt pushes him outside to peddle chocolates on the street. And about the pickle cart lady who stored her pickles in a rat-infested basement. We read Rose Cohen's terrifying account of living through the Triangle Shirtwaist fire, and of Pauline Newman's struggles to learn English. But through it all, each one of these kids keeps working, keeps hoping, to achieve their own American dream.

Author Biography

Deborah Hopkinson is the highly acclaimed author of thrilling, accessible, and compelling nonfiction for every reader. She has written over forty award-winning books, including Titanic: Voices from the Disaster, a YALSA Excellence in Nonfiction Award Finalist and Sibert Honor Book; D-Day: The World War II Invasion that Changed History; We Had to be Brave: Escaping the Nazis on the Kindertransport, which was a Kids' Book Choice Award Nominee and a Sydney Taylor Notable Book; We Must Not Forget; the forthcoming Race Against Death; and her series for Grades 2-5, The Deadliest, which are action-packed, photo-filled nonfiction titles about disasters throughout history. Deborah lives outside Portland, Oregon.