The Irish Dresser: A Story of Hope During the Great Hunger (an Gorta Mor, 1845-1850)

By Cynthia G. Neale

Book Overview

During the Irish Famine from 1845 to 1850 over a million people perished due to hunger and fever. Thousands of ships brought more than two million Irish people to North America in search of food. The... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1572493445
• ISBN13: 9781572493445
• Release Date: February 2004
• Publisher: White Mane Publishing Company
• Length: 148 Pages
• Weight: 0.54 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.4" x 5.6" x 8.5"
• Age Range: 8 to 12 years
• Grade Range: Grades 3 to 7

Customer Reviews

The reader will experience a young girl's family struggle to survive

The Irish Dresser is fantastic historical fiction which tells the story of Ireland's Potato Famine that occurred between 1845 and 1850. Told from the perspective of thirteen year old Nora McCabe, the reader experiences her family's struggle to survive. Nora decides to escape by hiding in her family's dresser aboard the ship, fantasizing about food and a better life. The reader experiences the difficult journey experienced by over two million Irish through Nora's touching story. Surely, students will be engaged by the McCabe family's tragic and difficult voyage to America in search of food, as well as Nora's vivid and descriptive voice. The Irish Dresser is an exciting story about the reality of taking risks and facing the unknown. This title will make a fantastic read aloud and could be enjoyed by students in grades 2-6.

Nora McCabe Is Famine Ireland's Anne Frank

Nothing can ever really be compared to the courage displayed by Anne Frank in her diary, but Cynthia Neale's Nora McCabe in Neale's famine book, THE IRISH DRESSER, comes close. Both Nora and Anne experience day-to-day life in a world gone mad. While nothing can extinguish their inner lights, the world they live in is pitch black, terrifying and cruel. The wonder of Anne Frank has always been how did she manage to cope at all. She has provided unending inspiration for any of us who is ever tempted to indulge in self-pity or despair. Neale's 13-year-old Nora McCabe, like Anne, sees the magic in the ordinary things around her-chickens with personalities and the thrill of an upcoming party where there might actually be food to eat, instead of the hopelessness which has wrapped itself around her family. Anne Frank hid in a cramped apartment in Amsterdam,and Nora McCabe literally hides in a piece of furniture-the Irish dresser, as she, unlike Anne,manages to escape from starvation and political oppression and start over again in New York. If you want to get a real sense of what the Great Famine in Ireland must have been like from a child's point of view, when over one million died and two million fled the island, read this book.

Taking risks and facing new challenges for the sake of hope

The Irish Dresser: A Story Of Hope During The Great Hunger by Cynthia G. Neale is a novel written for young adults and set in the Irish Famine of 1845-1850. The Irish Dresser follows the struggles of Nora McCabe, a thirteen-year-old girl who wages a daily battle with hunger. Nora's adventure begins when her father decides to take her to America for an escape from famine and a chance at survival in a new world. The Irish Dresser is an exciting, entertaining, and highly recommended story of taking risks and facing new challenges for the sake of hope.

Erica's Review

This book tells you what really happened in Ireland during the Potato Famine. It is also a story about family strength and love. Nora and her family are very near starving to death, so their father decides to move them all to America. The family gets split up on the boat to America, and a china cabinet becomes Nora's magical place. Sometimes this story is a little scary and sad, and sometimes it is full of hope and promise. But it is a story that needs to be told. If you have some Irish roots, this books helps you to understand your family history a little better.