- Shopping Bag ( 0 items )
Children's Literature
Between 1845 and 1851, thousands upon thousands of Irish men, women, and children died when the potato crop failed. A million more left Ireland and came to America to start their lives over. Fergus and his parents were just one of the many families that made the long uncomfortable journey across the Atlantic. Before he left his home Fergus cut off a branch from a blackthorn tree. This he whittled into a shillelagh, a walking stick. Within this shillelagh lies the story of Fergus's family. Every St. Patrick's day the story of their flight from Ireland is told. Fergus grows up and gives the shillelagh to his son Declan. In turn, Declan gives the shillelagh to his son Emmet and so it goes, on through the generations. With each passing generation we see the family gain a better place in life until Ryan becomes the owner of the shillelagh. Ryan has made his family very proud because he went to college. There is one thing he has failed to do though, and it is daughter Kayleigh who reminds him. She finds the shillelagh in a closet and asks him about it. Ryan regrets being too busy "worrying about tomorrow I forgot to tell you our family's story of yesterday." So, they get Grandpa to tell them the story of the shillelagh on St. Patrick's Day. In this beautiful book, Janet Nolan has found a wonderful way to tell the story of her family and its successes through the story of the shillelagh. 2002, Albert Whitman,— Marya Jansen-Gruber
Overview
A family retells the story of the shillelagh that was whittled from a tree. During the Irish potato famine, Fergus and his family left for America. But first Fergus cut a branch from a blackthorn tree to take a piece of Ireland with him.
On his way from Ireland to America to escape the potato famine, young Fergus carves a shillelagh from his favorite blackthorn tree, and each St. Patrick's Day for generations, his story is retold ...