You Wouldn't want to Sail on an Irish Famine Ship is great book it is entertaining and informational. It tells about the rough journey to the United States and Canada and the bad potato harvest . The Irish's main crop are potatoes. But then one season the potato harvest was infected with fungi. The Irish didn't know that and they thought it was just temporary. Many Irish took a boat to England and if they had enough money they would sail to the U.S or Canada.
This book is both fun and informative. It has pictures and comics It tells the story as if you were there. I recommend this book to 5th grade through 7th grade. ( )

Summary: About the lives of families during the 1845 Irish famine and the trip to America and Canada.

Personal Opinion: This isn't a read out loud kind of book. Great for a kid to sit to the side and read. The pictures are colorful and not gruesome. Does a good job of showing depressing events while not looking ugly.

Class Room Extension: 1.Part of healthy eating learn different ways of cooking potatoes. 2. Do research into famous people who are Irish. 3. Make toy sail boats and teach what keeps them a float.

This is a story about the Irish Famine of 1845. When a fungus destroys all the potatoes. A family decides to come to America. It tell of the hardship they endure before and during the crossing on a rundown ship.
Personal Response:
During the 1800s and 1900s about 26 million immigrants arrived in United States to seek better opportunities; the majority settled in cities and helped reshape American culture. It had to be very hard for them coming over on overcrowded ships.In 1924 congress had to set an annual limit
to 150,000 people entering the United States from other countries.
Classroom Extension:
1. After reading the book have the students with the help of their parents trace back a couple of generations and see where they may have come from.
2.Have the students do a compare and constrast of how ships were during 1845 and now and have them bring pictures of the two ships to share with the class. ( )

A family has extreme hardships to endure to start a new life. They must travel3100 miles across the Atlantic Ocean on an unworthy ship.

This story is very deep in explaining the life of families that had to go through the Great Hunger in Ireland.

Great lesson on the Great Hunger and introducing the way some people live on a day to day basis.