Jane Addams dropped into a chair. She was so tired that she could not move. Her best friend Ellen Starr fell into the chair beside her.
The two women had spent the whole day cleaning the house. It was a huge house. It had many rooms and lots of space, but it was old and run down. There were no fancy gardens outside. The land had been sold little by little. Now there was nothing but factories and run down houses around it.
Soon the two women were joined by a third. Mary Keyser had come to clean the house. She was hoping to live at the house. She was poor and needed a place to live. The year was 1889 and it was hard for a woman to make a living on her own.
Jane had never had that problem. Her father owned both a saw mill and a flour mill. He had a lot of money. When he died, Jane got some of it. She had used some of that money to buy this huge house.
Find out what Jane does with the huge house, and how it changes the lives of her neighbors in this fun 15-minute book.
Ages 7 and up.
Reading level 2.5
This book is part of our "Heroes in History" series. These 15-minute books focus on a specific moment in a historic person's life. Aimed at second graders, they provide the perfect introduction to famous Americans in an exciting, fun-to-read way.
