Theme: potato famine

Saint Patrick and the Peddler

When a poor Irish peddler follows the instructions given to him by Saint Patrick in a dream, his life is greatly changed.    

Descriptors: Europe, Folklore, Ireland, Picture Book, Primary (ages 6-9) » Other Themes: , , , , » Leave a comment

The Wee Christmas Cabin

All her life Oona dreams of having a cabin of her own. Since she has no family, she moves from cabin to cabin, helping wherever there is trouble or need. But when the Great Famine comes and the last of the potatoes is eaten, Oona knows that no one will want another mouth to feed. [...]

Descriptors: Folklore, Ireland, Picture Book, Primary (ages 6-9) » Other Themes: , , , » Leave a comment

Wildflower Girl

Thirteen-year-old Peggy O’Driscoll, left orphaned and homeless by the Great Famine of the 1840s, leaves Ireland to seek her fortune in America.

Descriptors: Historical Fiction, Intermediate (ages 9-14), Ireland, United States of America » Other Themes: , , , , , , , » Leave a comment

Feed the Children First: Irish Memories of the Great Hunger

The great Irish potato famine — the Great Hunger — was one of the worst disasters of the nineteenth century. Within seven years of the onset of a fungus that wiped out Ireland’s staple potato crop, more than a quarter of the country’s eight million people had either starved to death, died of disease, or [...]

Descriptors: Ireland, Nonfiction, Young Adult (ages 14-18) » Other Themes: , , , , , , » Leave a comment