THE BREAKER BOYS
by Pat Hughes
Farrar, Straus and Giroux
ISBN: 0374309566
Ages 8-12
256 pages

It's 1897, and everyone is happy because summer vacation is close. Well, not everyone. Twelve-year-old Nathan Tanner just got expelled from boarding school because of his temper and bad behavior. He has no friends and doesn't get along well with his family. While riding his bicycle one day, he meets the Breaker Boys, who do dangerous work in the coal mines for his father, a coal mine operator.

Nathan starts hanging out with the Breaker Boys every day and becomes very good friends with them, especially Johnny. However, Nathan must hide the fact that he's the boss's son. As Johnny and Nathan grow closer, Nathan learns that, because of unfair wages and treatment, some of the mine workers are forming unions and going on strike. Because of this, tensions rise in Nathan's family. Will he take his family's side on the issue and help them, or will he betray them to help his friend?

In her first novel, GUERRILLA SEASON, Pat Hughes traveled back in time to show readers how different life was because of war, how children's lives were affected by war and why they were forced to become adults so early. THE BREAKER BOYS, which is a fascinating second novel from Hughes, is no different.

   --- Reviewed by Ashley Hartlaub

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