Chil­dren’s

Rose Spoke Out: The Sto­ry of Rose Schneiderman

  • Review
By – March 31, 2023

A diminu­tive red-head­ed immi­grant to the Unit­ed States who began work­ing full-time when she was thir­teen years old: Rose Schnei­der­man may seem an unlike­ly hero­ine or some­one des­tined to improve the lives of her fel­low work­ers, but Rose cer­tain­ly didn’t know that. Nor did she antic­i­pate that the sweat­shop that employed her and many oth­er women would be freez­ing in the win­ter, swel­ter­ing in the sum­mer, and filthy all the time. San­i­ta­tion was not a pri­or­i­ty — rats were every­where — and dan­ger was a con­stant. Rose also noticed that women were rou­tine­ly paid less than men. Her deter­mi­na­tion to improve con­di­tions for all work­ers led this young vision­ary on a path toward a remark­able career.

The Inter­na­tion­al Ladies Gar­ment Work­ers Union, which helps employ­ees receive ben­e­fits and equi­table treat­ment, is one result of Rose’s activism. She is a role mod­el for today’s young people.

Although Rose Spoke Out is a pic­ture book aimed at kids who are five through eight, old­er chil­dren and adults will find the sto­ry fas­ci­nat­ing, too. The art evokes the era, enhanc­ing the reader’s over­all expe­ri­ence. The book con­cludes with his­tor­i­cal pho­tographs and a note about tikkun olam, or mak­ing the world a bet­ter place.

Award-win­ning jour­nal­ist and free­lance writer, Helen Weiss Pin­cus, has taught mem­oir writ­ing and cre­ative writ­ing through­out the NY Metro area to senior cit­i­zens and high school stu­dents. Her work has been pub­lished in The New York Times, The Record, The Jew­ish Stan­dard, and oth­er pub­li­ca­tions. She recent­ly added Bub­by” to her job description.

Discussion Questions