Author: Barry Denenberg
Title: So Far From Home: The Diary of Mary Driscoll, an Irish Mill Girl (Dear America Series)
Publisher: Scholastic Inc. Date: 1997
Title: So Far From Home: The Diary of Mary Driscoll, an Irish Mill Girl (Dear America Series)
Publisher: Scholastic Inc. Date: 1997
Age level: Elementary (3-4)
Summary:
Being part of the Dear America series, this book acts as a diary of a young girl. It follows her travels from Ireland to America and all the hardships she faces. It details the horrible conditions on the voyage across the Atlantic, and the still horrible conditions when they finally reach land. It talks of all the sadness she faces and all the tragedies that strike the people around her. She ends up fairly lucky and ends up receiving a job in a textile mill. She makes friends with one of the girls who works there and she learns a lot about the hardships in America. The diary is her outlet for dealing with everything she goes through.
Being part of the Dear America series, this book acts as a diary of a young girl. It follows her travels from Ireland to America and all the hardships she faces. It details the horrible conditions on the voyage across the Atlantic, and the still horrible conditions when they finally reach land. It talks of all the sadness she faces and all the tragedies that strike the people around her. She ends up fairly lucky and ends up receiving a job in a textile mill. She makes friends with one of the girls who works there and she learns a lot about the hardships in America. The diary is her outlet for dealing with everything she goes through.
Strengths:
This is a great book for children to see a kid’s point of view of immigration. It incorporates all the important things that happened, and also added details that make it easy for a child to understand. The language that the author writes in is representative of the Irish culture and is very well done. The diary format of the book allows for easy flow and the ability for someone to read just a few pages at a time.
This is a great book for children to see a kid’s point of view of immigration. It incorporates all the important things that happened, and also added details that make it easy for a child to understand. The language that the author writes in is representative of the Irish culture and is very well done. The diary format of the book allows for easy flow and the ability for someone to read just a few pages at a time.
Concerns:
Even though the language adds to the story, it may be a little confusing for young children to understand all the terminology. The storyline of the book is very good, but it ends rather abruptly and then finishes with an epilogue. I did not like the ending spot and even though the epilogue summed up the loose ends, it was still very strange.
Even though the language adds to the story, it may be a little confusing for young children to understand all the terminology. The storyline of the book is very good, but it ends rather abruptly and then finishes with an epilogue. I did not like the ending spot and even though the epilogue summed up the loose ends, it was still very strange.
Classroom use/Other comments:
This is a great book to use to teach children about immigration. At the end of the book there is also an appendix which gives background information about early America. This would be a great history lesson for the students, and a great way to tie in a writing assessment.
This is a great book to use to teach children about immigration. At the end of the book there is also an appendix which gives background information about early America. This would be a great history lesson for the students, and a great way to tie in a writing assessment.
No comments:
Post a Comment