Every new year I read the story of The Little Match Girl
A haunting fairy tale
With a heartbreaking ending
Written by Hans Christian Anderson
This year
Alongside that stunning sad tale
I have also re-read Lightning Strike
Alongside one of my favourite middle grade books of 2022
The Little Match Girl Strikes Back
By the wonderful storyteller
A master of her historical fiction craft
Emma Carroll
The Little Match Girl Strikes Back
Is a brilliant and beautiful book
With striking artwork by Lauren Child
Based on real events from Victorian England
Set in and around the real Bryant and May Match Factory, in Bow in the East End of London
This is a story of finding and using your voice
The power and magic in people coming together
Supporting one another
And fighting for each other
It is utterly brilliant
One of my very best reads of 2022
“Once upon a snowy New Year’s Eve, a story began.”
On the streets of Victorian London
Home to the very richest and the very, very poorest
Bridie Sweeney is a street seller
A match girl who has the gift of the gab
A sparky imagination
And a wonderful way with words
A match girl who has two wishes, two dreams
To not be hungry all day every day and
For the match factory to pay their workers a proper wage
Bridie’s family all in the match trade
Making matchboxes at home
Working in the match factory
And selling matches on the street
Flames for a farthing! Bridie calls
As she tries to sell her wares
Not only little wooden fire lighters
But comfort, possibilities and hope
Bridie is a hugely inspiring character
A true member of the Strong Girls Club
She is spirited and determined
A change maker
The perfect role model for young readers
Who want to make a difference
The match business is not a good business to be in
Workers are poorly paid, hideously mistreated
And poisoned as they work
Many of the women and girls suffer with Phossy mouth
A really horrible disease
A disease of the poor
Workers in match factories developed unbearable abscesses in their mouths,
Leading to facial disfigurement and sometimes fatal brain damage
Phossy Mouth was caused by toxic White Phosphorus
The chemical that made matches burn in the 19th century
I first learned about Phossy Mouth in Lighting Strike
A brilliant short novel from Barrington Stroke
About the Match Workers’ Strikes
Bridie’s story will help children understand more about
The match factory workers
About life in Victorian London
The divide between rich and poor
Working conditions especially for women and children
The story shows Victorian London
As a beautiful backdrop to filthy poverty
Bridie tells readers exactly how things are
In her description of matches
“Cheap wooden spills dipped in nasty poison, which made factory owners rich and their workers sick.”
The factory owners did not care about their workers
Bridie and her family have barely enough to survive
They share shoes
And meagre scraps of food
They have nothing
And their harsh reality chills you to the bone
As Bridie roams the icy snow covered streets in bare feet
Trying to sell enough matches to feed her family
After a horrible day
Bridie is down to her last 3 damaged matches
She strikes them one a time
And stares into the flames
Wishing, hoping for a spark of the magic that she sells
Each of the last matches offer her a glimpse into the future
The first …
A taste of upper class life funded by factory workers
The second …
Meeting Mrs Besant, who was trying to stick up for workers rights, and hatching a plan to help the match factory workers. Letters had been written but to no avail, it was time for action.
It was time to strike!
And third …
Her family’s future – cleaner, warmer, healthier, fuller
The three visions connected to show Bridie what needed to be done
Bridie saw that Mr Bryant, the factory owner’s greed had led to Annie Besant’s letter-writing to the papers, if they could get the world to listen, conditions at the factory would improve and her Mam would get well.
Bridie realises that they cannot rely on educated people writing letters, the fight needed to come from the workers. They needed to stage a protest, they needed to strike back!
They needed to fight, together, for better pay, better working conditions and more fairness
The protests in the story are mirrored in today’s society with Rail and Health Service strikes – workers fighting for workers’ rights.
The Little Match Girl Strikes Back is a story showing readers that we are stronger together and we are never too young or too small to make a difference.
“We might not have wealth or class, but we’ve got our dignity and this fight is real.”
As Bridie leads the workers in protest, a huge bubble of pride and emotion popped inside me. Along with the little match girl little readers learn
“It wasn’t just matches that were magic: I realised that people, working together for a purpose, could also achieve magical, magnificent things.”
The fight grows, slowly change begins, strikes and protests, letters and news articles continue and change happens. Wages improve, conditions improve, health and safety measures are introduced and finally after far too long the use of toxic white phosphorus is banned.
This powerful moving story is based on true events. You can read more about the real life Match Worker Strikes of 1888 at the back of the book, where you can also see some of the photographs that inspired Lauren Child’s incredible illustrations.
This is a brilliant and beautiful book. I wholeheartedly recommend reading this one for pleasure. A perfect addition to KS2 classrooms and especially those studying life in Victorian times.
“Stare into the magic flame and you’ll find all you could wish for … It only takes one strike!”