A cute story about teenagers Cassie Hopkins and her sidekick Mary Smith during the Winnipeg General Strike. A delightful read, Papergirl is a book a definitely would recommend.

Wow, this book ended up being so interesting and I learned something from it as well.

So going into Papergirl I knew it dealt with a worker's strike going on. I did not realize how involved Cassie and her family would be in everything nor that it took place in Winnipeg Canada which I know next to nothing about. Because of these things, I really enjoyed this book and didn't want to stop reading it because I had to know what would happen to Cassie and her family as well as those that were in charge of the strike.

Cassie's family is one that has been okay throughout the first world war and the Pandemic of 1919, but now with a strike going to happen city wide they might not be as okay as Cassie thought when it came to being able to put food on the table. Cassie and her best friend Mary while having very different lives the past few years have stayed close and are still the best of friends. How the strike affects them is very different at first, but they both end up getting involved along with their entire families to help those that need it during the strike.

Overall I loved this book. Cassie was such a sweet character and she understood as much as she could of what was happening as her age allowed her to. She knew times were tough and that the strike affected everyone except those that were really rich when it came to being able to keep a home and food on the table. She herself starts going out and selling the papers from the strike group in order to get the word out about what was really happening and along the way she meets a fellow newspaper seller who is selling papers for a very different reason and is kind of stuck in a way in what he can/can't say in order to help keep putting food on the table for his family. I enjoyed the friendship these two created, as well as how Cassie's best friend Mary dealt with this other kid as well. The banter between all of them was good and we see the one paper seller start changing his ways.

Papergirls covers a lot of rather serious topics when it comes to labor strikes and how they affect everyone in a family. We also get to see how the majority of people want to keep things peaceful while others just want to cause violence and havoc and how that can change in entire thing in not only how it goes the rest of the day, but in how the world starts seeing that strike/protest. I think this was a very relevant read for me especially with what has been happening in America and how labor has been under attack all year.

This book is about what's right and standing up for it. This well-researched novel follows Cassie a girl living in Winnipeg in 1919 who becomes a papergirl due to the threat of shortages and safety as a result of a strike against poor wages.
I really liked how well-researched this novel was and how a child, like Cassie, can be so determined and resilient to fight for righteousness in her own way.

This book explores different historical events that many readers may not be familiar with. It's set in post-WWI/post-Spanish Flu Canada and deals with labor strikes culminating into an event called Bloody Sunday. In the historical aspect, this book is quite educational/well-researched and would find great success in a school setting. Given its Middle Grade audience, the pace was quick and the writing style simplistic. It would make a great classroom/parent read-aloud but may not engage readers who have already moved on to Young Adult Historical Fiction.

As a kid, I almost exclusively read historical fiction, so this was really nostalgic. This was well done and I enjoyed it. It wasn't incredibly memorable and I don't remember a ton of the plot, soon after finishing, but I did really like the characters and enjoyed my time reading this.

This was my first book by this author, It was pretty enjoyable. I would give this book a 3.5 star rating! It was a pretty Quick and easy read!

When reading middle grade books I try really hard to keep in mind the age group, how I felt when I was that age and also what I think my future kids would enjoy. And because I love historical fiction I was really hoping I'd enjoy this book.

Sadly right away I found that the writing style dragged, sounding similar to a slightly older first reader book. The sentence structure and the narration was just too young sounding for the type of book that this was supposed to be. And I just never got into the story or Cassie. I felt like the character development was really lacking, too much telling and not enough showing.

So I ended up quitting this book about 20% in. Maybe others will have better luck with it than I.  In the end I gave it 2 stars on Goodreads.

I originally requested this book on NetGalley, because I was led to believe it was a YA historical fiction novel. However, this book was definitely written for middle graders, which is why I didn't enjoy it as much as I expected. Here is my honest review :

I greatly enjoyed the historical aspects of this book, and it is obvious the author spent a lot of time researching these facts. It's always fascinating to read about how different things were during those times, especially the vast differences between social classes, as well as men vs women labour. I've extensively learned about Canadian history (especially Quebec) during my elementary school years, and I really appreciated learning more from what was happening in Manitoba.

However, I had a difficult time connecting with the characters, they didn't seem very complex. I am certain younger readers could really appreciate this book though!

It was great to learn about a piece of Canadian history through the perspective of Cassie. She was a spunky and passionate young girl with a heart of gold. The other characters were also well-crafted, and her family and friends were very likeable.

The plot was quite good, but was pretty slow. The simplicity and pacing were well-matched to this being a middle grade novel, so that may have lessened my ability to enjoy it a bit as I am definitely beyond the target audience. There were a lot of great themes and thoughts presented throughout the book by multiple characters that I hope resonate with young readers and teach them to be better people.

This one really exceeded my expectations, especially for a manuscript written years ago and then published by a small company. The book is well written and thorough, and even though the characters are stock and a little flat, their tropes help to tell a lot about conflicting labor attitudes toward the strike. Even though the book hones in on one specific labor movement, its themes transcend this one strike and make it a good resource not just for local history, but for any young people studying or interested in labor history. It's got a strong feminist backbone as well without going over the top, making a believable and empowering read.

When I first started to read this book I thought it was going to be a nice, maybe somewhat emotional read and boy was I wrong. This story is so much more than that. It's about justice and standing up for what you believe, even when things look bleak and without hope. But in the end, things do get better. And your every action, no matter how small or insignificant at first glance it may be, like selling the daily news, it matters! You can make a change for the better! And that's what this book is all about. Such an inspiring story!

Papergirl is a middle-grade historical fiction following ten year old Cassie. It is set in Winnipeg 1919 and follows the big strike happening there (now 100 years ago). The strike is an attempt to get better wage and working conditions for the workers.

This historic period was one of my favorites to learn about in school, and this book reminded me of why. I think it was around this time I started to really fall in love with history classes, but this is a long time ago now lol. Either way, this brought back memories and made me enjoy the book more.

I don’t think the book is that great, the writing was awkward sometimes and I feel like it could have been longer and more things explored. But if this is a topic that interest you, then I think you can enjoy it! I don’t regret reading it, but it is not something I would push onto people to read either. 3/5 stars!

I have more thoughts in my video review: https://youtu.be/Rxla-QDTpvE

This is a story about the 1919 Winnipeg General Strike and how it effected Cassie and her family and the rest of the city.
I had never heard of this strike until I saw this book. We follow 10-year-old Cassie as the strike begins, and we get to see what role everyone takes during a strike. Especially women and girls. I found it interesting how big a role the women took, and how it never got talked about in the news.
I also thought it was great that she wrote this when her daughter was a child, and her daughter had it published after her mothers' death

I received this eARC via NetGalley in exchange for an honest book review.
I have no prior knowledge about the 1919 Winnipeg Strike upon reading this book. I have learned a lot about the subject in this hundred plus page. Although, I wish this book could have been a bit longer. I would definitely recommend this to my friends who are seeking to know more about Canadian history.

Papergirl is a wonderful, educational, middle-grade novel about labor activism and working-class life in Winnipeg. I had a fun time reading it and learned a lot about an under-taught historical event. I'm not Canadian, so I didn't have much context before reading, but the novel filled me in on what life was like along the way, so I was never left out. However, this also became its downfall in a way.

I liked Cassie and her family. They were a close-knit bunch, supporting each other and passionate about bettering their lives and the lives of those less fortunate than them. Cassie herself was brave in the face of much danger, but she also learned to understand those with a different viewpoint. Her friend, Mary, came out of her shell and started volunteering as well, and their enthusiasm was adorable.

This book had great exploration of class and activism for younger readers. It was honest without being too graphic, and a perfect introduction. I especially liked Cassie's friendship with Freddie, a boy who sold a rival paper, because they both learned to see past situations and stereotypes into the heart of a person's choices.

Only one bad thing: At some points, I couldn't get behind the writing style. I liked how educational it was, but information was presented in blocks sometimes instead of fluidly throughout the story. Additionally, there was a bit of telling instead of showing, that I felt was unnecessary even in a book targeted towards younger readers.

Overall, 4/5 stars for Papergirl for illuminating labor activism and Canadian history in a thoughtful way.

Although short this book did not disappoint.
gave you everything you needed to paint the picture of that period
I really enjoyed this book!

A nice educational story about a part of Canadian history I knew nothing about. Written from the POV of a young girl it was interesting to hear her views on the strike that went on and on.

Cassie and her family become caught up in the 1919 Winnipeg General Strike, and struggle to survive and fight for their rights as workers.

This was a very educational read about a subject that I knew absolutely nothing about. Mostly because I have no idea about Canadian history other than the US's really terrible attempts to invade it (yes, this is a thing that happened...several times) and next to nothing about worker's rights beyond what was taught in AP US History some many moons ago.

I enjoyed that women's and girls' voices were focused on in this story, and pages were given to highlight the struggle the workers' faced before the strike—with wages increasing 18% and the price of food by 80%—and during the strike, and the fact that some workers were affected harder than others, particularly those families who had suffered losses during the Great War and the Spanish Flu.

The writing is a little more old-fashioned than I'm used to seeing in contemporary MG lit, but that's because this was written in the 1980s. There is a lot of telling instead of showing, particularly in the beginning, but then the story picks up and I became so immersed in Cassie's story and her times as a Labour papergirl and her family's and friends' struggles that the clunky sentences didn't really bother me as much.

Overall, this is definitely well-researched, and the climactic moment is definitely heart-pounding. A good read to hand to your children who want to know more about labor movements, workers' rights and the importance of unions in ensuring safe working conditions, fair wages and healthy work hours.

I received this ARC from NetGalley for an honest review.

4 stars

This book was cute and sweet, and I enjoyed the educational aspects of it. I enjoyed it for what it was, and I loved reading about a piece of Canadian history.

I went into this one looking for a fast paced and educational book all about an event in Canadian history that I didn’t know much about, and that’s exactly what I got. I remember briefly learning about the Winnipeg Strike and Bloody Saturday in school but it wasn’t a topic that was covered at length (and I was in school quite a while ago) so I was curious to learn more about it, especially in the form of a middle grade story.

The book follows our main character Cassie and the strike unfolds around her, and the affects that it has on not only her but also her family, close friends and the community she’s apart of. It’s not a story that flows like most fiction, but I think that’s what makes it so good. It’s a book that’s here to tell you the facts and the feelings surrounding the strikes and it does that wonderfully. Watching the way everything happens through the eyes of Cassie makes it an easier story to digest while still giving you all the details you need in order to fully understand what a massive event this was in Canadian history.

The area that Cassie lives, and the corner where she sells her papers are vivid and really give you a feel for what the city might have looked like 100 years ago. I also liked the different characters we encounter, but I think that Freddy was my favourite. The story is all about people fighting for what they need in order to make their lives better and I really loved that he wasn’t made a villain for doing what he needed to in order to look after his family.

I also really enjoyed the ending of the book, the story explains why the strikes happened and shows you how long they lasted and how extreme they got but unfortunately it wasn’t an immediate success. Even though it took decades more for the full effects to be put in place the story still ends with hope, and I think it was done beautifully.

Overall I really really loved reading this book. I learned something about my country that I didn’t really learn about in school, and I got to meet some pretty awesome new characters along the way. If you’re looking for an education middle grade story then I’d pick this one up!