Digging a Hole to Heaven

At twelve years old, Connall has already worked in the coal mines for two years. He spends his days deep underground with his faithful mule, Angel, carting loads of coal back and forth between the coal seams and the main shaft, where elevators take the coal up to the surface. Each day for Connall is much the same as it was for thousands of young boys who worked in coal mines, under appalling and unsafe conditions, during the American Industrial Revolution in the late-nineteenth and early-twentieth centuries. After receiving a rudimentary education provided by coal mining companies, boys as young as eight would begin working eight to twelve hours per day. Many of them would work for those companies, earning barely enough to live in company housing, for their entire lives. In a style that mixes archival images and original artwork, acclaimed author and illustrator S.D. Nelson gives voice to the poverty, grueling labour and dangerous conditions experienced by child labourers across our nation in the past. While Connall's story is fictional, he represents the very real experiences of many young children and teens of the time. This book includes an author's note, glossary of terms, selected timeline, endnotes and a bibliography.