Bridie is an energetic, likable narrator, and it’s satisfying to follow her quick-moving adventures. . . The gritty East End snaps to life in Lauren Child’s textured illustrations. Modeled on period photographs, they mix gray and black patterns with bursts of telltale red: Bridie’s hair, a candle flame, the bow on a Christmas wreath. . . . It’s the right message not just for 1888 but for 2023, with workers once again taking to the picket lines to demand a fair deal.
—The New York Times Book Review
This retelling of a Hans Christian Andersen tale casts the little Matchstick Girl as a social reformer. . . . Artwork throughout includes creative typographic styling and black-and-white illustrations with pops of red for Bridie’s hair and match flames. An author’s note reveals the factual basis of the story.
—Kirkus Reviews
Information about the devastating effects of white phosphorous on workers’ health and the effectiveness of collective action to implement change are woven into a brief and engaging story led by a charismatic heroine. Child (the Clarice Bean series) provides b&w illustrations accented by a fiery red that bring Bridie vividly to life.
—Publishers Weekly
In this British import, Carroll skillfully transforms Hans Christian Andersen’s “The Little Match Girl” into an entry point to labor history via the London matchgirls’ strike of 1888. . . Child’s illustrations emphasize Bridie’s snap and spark with scratchy black lines and bold, stylized pops of fire red. . . . Older readers and fans of the Enola Holmes films will quickly twig to the factory working conditions and discussions of workers’ rights leading up to the strike, though this engaging tale is accessible to a wide audience.
—The Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books
The conclusion is not only more satisfying than the original, but more authentic. Stylized black-and-white illustrations use accents of red to punctuate the action, creating an open and accessible format for a surprisingly timely look at workers’ actions. . . . This sophisticated tale is likely to generate conversation in school and public libraries about 19th-century factory working conditions.
—School Library Journal
Carroll takes the story of this significant event in labor history and uses it as the armature for her own version of Hans Christian Andersen’s weeper. . . The mash-up of history and Andersen-tale works beautifully, especially on the metaphorical level with light, enlightenment, warmth, and energy battling it out against darkness, ignorance, chill, and despair. Child’s illustrations, collages in black, gray, and red with a rich use of pattern, incorporate text at certain points to create an arresting, graphically dynamic page.
—The Horn Book
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