Finn Reardon is a clever boy, the kind of boy who gets good grades without having to study all the time. He also has a job that he loves. When he isn't in school, in the afternoon and evening, Finn is a newsie. He sells newspapers that he buys from the newspaper company. In his case he sells The Journal, a newspaper put out by Randolph Hearst, a multimillionaire. Randolph Hearst believed in sensationalizing stories to sell newspapers, something Finn is not too keen on but, being a practical boy, he knows that The Journal sells more copies than the rival paper, The World.

Finn lives in a three-room tenement apartment in the Bowery, a part of New York City, with his family. In all, there are seven people living in those three rooms, and they are all working except for the two youngest members, who are still babies. Despite their labors, Finn's family just about scrapes by. In addition they have to deal with terrible living conditions: bedbugs, filth, fires and utilities that don't work properly. Finn is a very proud boy who is determined to leave school as soon as he can. He wants to make his way in the world and contribute more to the family money jar. His mother, on the other hand, wants him to get as much of an education as possible. The two strong characters look as if they are heading for a collision of a monumental type.

Susan Campbell Bartoletti has created powerful characters and sets her story against a very interesting time in the history of this country. The poor working class is just beginning to recognize that it has to protect itself from the bosses if it isn't going to be squashed into the ground even more than it is. Finn and his mother both take a stand for the poor worker. His mother gets punished for her efforts, but Finn and his newsie comrades make a difference and wring a compromise out of the penny-pinching Hearst.

In the back of the book, the reader will find a very useful section titled "Life in America in 1899." Here you can read about the big newspaper empires of William Randolph Hearst and that of Joseph Pulitzer. There is also information about events that were taking place during that time --- events that changed the shape of America.

   --- Reviewed by Marya Jansen-Gruber