Margaret Knight: Girl Inventor

During the mid-1800s, thousands of girls and boys worked all day, six days a week, in textile mills around the country. One of the biggest mills was Amoskeag, in New Hampshire. This was the mill where young Margaret Knight and her family worked. Like her coworkers, Margaret was deeply troubled by the dangerous looms and deadly accidents that occurred so often. Margaret determined to invent something to make the looms safer. But in 1850, it wasn’t easy for a twelve-year-old girl to prove she could make a difference. This story of a brave girl inventor was a 2002 National Council of Social Studies/Children’s Book Council Notable Trade Book.