UNDERGROUND FIRE

A poignant account of the 1909 Cherry, Illinois, coal mine disaster, one of the worst in U.S. history.

Walker cites Karen Tintori’s 2002 adult nonfiction title, Trapped: The 1909 Cherry Mine Disaster, as a major source of inspiration, but in recounting the tragedy’s course for young readers, she piles on names and numbers without capturing that book’s dramatic storytelling or its sharp sense of outrage at the unsafe practices and conditions that led to 259 deaths. She also seldom connects her narrative to the many affecting period photos she has gathered, nor even mentions who took them, so although they are labeled, the portraits of victims and their families, along with scenes of the town of Cherry and of anxious crowds clustered around the mine’s entrance waiting for news, seem oddly disconnected from the actual people and events. She does offer meticulously detailed descriptions of how coal was mined at that time, how the accidental fire started and spread, how the trapped miners struggled, and the protracted, often disorganized rescue efforts. She also develops significant overall themes—that there was much national and ethnic, if not racial, diversity in the devastated community (most of the dead were European immigrants; only 11 were U.S.–born) and that both during and after the tragedy there was a great outpouring of volunteer and charitable assistance.

Numbers and pictures tell a tragic tale even if the writing never quite catches fire.