Shutting Out the Sky

Shutting Out the Sky: Life in the Tenements of New York, 1880-1924. By Deborah Hopkinson. Scholastic, 2003. 144 pages. Tr. $17.95 ISBN 978-0439375900

Summary: The years between 1880 and 1919 were a watershed in the history of American immigration. Between those years 24 million people immigrated to the U.S. Of those numbers, 17 million arrived in New York. The hardships that each youngster faced in adjusting to their new life, and the courage and determination shown to meet their goals are included. One of the historical actors included in this text is Leonard Covello, who arrived in New York as a teenager from Italy. By attending night-classes he was able to obtain his high school diploma and attend college. Rose Cohen arrives in N.Y. with her aunt, and is ashamed that her father has abandoned Jewish traditions. Marcus Ravage is convinced that American streets are covered with gold, and urges his mother to sell his cow to obtain passage to New York. Pauline Newman works in a shirtwaist factory, and grows to become an organizer for the Ladies’ Garment Workers’ Union.

Critical Review: Through first-person narratives and photos, the experience of late-nineteenth-and-early-twentieth-century immigration comes vividly to life. Tweens learn of the sacrifices and challenges their ancestors faced in adjusting to American life. Newcomers faced a sea of challenges, from learning English, obtaining employment, and finding suitable housing. Immigrants arriving in the U.S. were at a loss for words. They were unprepared for the clogged, unsanitary streets of the Lower East Side. Finding lucrative work was difficult, however, the possibility for upward mobility was there for those who were not afraid of extra work. It was not uncommon for immigrants to work and stay up all night studying for classes.

Genre: American History

Reading/Interest Level: 10-14 years

Awards: NCTE Orbis Pictus Award (Nominated for an Award) 2004; Jane Addams Children’s Book Award (Nominated for an Award) 2004; James Madison Book Award (Nominated for an Award) 2004; Emphasis on Reading Award (Nominated for an Award), 2005; Garden State Teen Book Award (Nominated for an Award), 2006

Reviews: Voice of Youth Advocates (2004, June 1); Publishers Weekly (2003, December 1); School Library Journal (2003, December 1); Booklist (2003, November 1)

Similar Materials: Linda Granfield’s 97 Orchard Street, New York: Stories of Immigrant Life; Raymond Bial’s Tenement: Immigrant Life on the Lower East Side; Russell Freedman’s Immigrant Kids

Subjects/Themes:  urban poor; U.S. immigrants; N.Y. social conditions; tenement houses; N.Y. history; Lower East Side, N.Y.

Author Website: http://www.deborahhopkinson.com/

Brief Annotation: Five late-nineteenth-and early twentieth-century adolescent immigrants from Italy, Belareus, Romania, Lithuania illustrate the painful and exciting experience that millions of immigrants went through in adopting to life in America.