Journey to America #1 (Digest): Fiona McGilray's Story: Voyage from Ireland in 1849

"Fiona McGilray's Story: A Voyage from Ireland in 1849" is an interesting historical fiction for younger readers who enjoy this genre of fiction. If you're interested in immigration, Ireland, and how The Great Hunger affected all of this, then this book is a good introduction. The writing is very simple, but rather than showing a lot of events, author Clara Pastore told it in description, and in reality, we don't say people's name when we talk to them, and Pastore wrote the dialogue as such. While interesting, this story may be misleading for beginner learners of this subject, as not every family who came to America from Ireland were as luck as the McGilray's, and Pastore should have said that. Lastly, the epilogue read more as a chapter, instead of summing up the character lives fully. Nonetheless, I recommend.

This is a wonderful story of spirit and adventure. It's a delightful read for a curious child, especially one of Irish heritage, since Fiona's story is a story like so many who left Ireland. We enjoyed it tremendously.

I loved this first book in the Journey to America series. I learned a lot about the potato famine too. I highly recommend this book and will tell all my friends in middle school about it. I can't wait to read the next book, Amelia Kaminski's Story, a Voyage from Poland during World War II. I love to read books having to do with WWII. A+++++++++++

The year is 1848, and the place is Ireland, devastated by the potato blight that has swept the countryside and left the poor farmers without their main source of food. Twelve-year-old Fiona McGilray and her family are among the lucky ones - her father has a job working on the landlord's flax farm. But when the landlord decides the farm is not making a profit, all the workers, including Fiona's father, lose their jobs. After Fiona's older sister dies, her parents decide the only way to protect their children is to send them to their relatives in America. When Fiona's father is arrested, Fiona's mother decides to just send Fiona and her older brother Patrick immediately. They flee in the middle of the night and board a ship for Boston. The voyage takes many weeks, and many do not survive. Fiona and Patrick arrive in America strangers in a strange land. Unable to find their relatives, they live in a tiny basement room, taking whatever work they can find to survive. Fiona fights to overcome hunger and prejudice, and to work toward the day when she will see her parents and younger siblings again. This was an inspiring story of a young immigrant girl who, in spite of a difficult life, never gives up her hope for a better life.