The Horn Book Guide

HISTORY

Lyons, Mary E., Editor

Feed the Children First: Irish Memories of the Great Hunger

48 pp. | Atheneum | February, 2002 | Trade ISBN 0-689-84226-0 $$17.00

(2) 4-6 Lyons allows events to unfold in brief succession through passages culled from records of the Irish Folklore Commission. The illustrative materials are an eclectic mix. Color has unaccountably been added to some of the nineteenth-century prints, which gives an oddly bright tone to the grim scenes. Not as detailed as Bartoletti's Black Potatoes, this book is still a powerful introduction to the human devastation of a country in extreme poverty. Bib.

Reviewer: Margaret A. Bush | Horn Book Magazine Issue: March, 2002