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Title details for Black Potatoes by Susan Campbell Bartoletti - Available

Black Potatoes

by Susan Campbell Bartoletti
ebook
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Sibert Award Winner: This true story of five years of starvation in Ireland is “a fascinating account of a terrible time” (Kirkus Reviews). 
 
In 1845, a disaster struck Ireland. Overnight, a mysterious blight attacked the potato crops, turning the potatoes black and destroying the only real food of nearly six million people. Over the next five years, the blight attacked again and again. These years are known today as the Great Irish Famine, a time when one million people died from starvation and disease and two million more fled their homeland. 
 
Black Potatoes is the compelling story of men, women, and children who defied landlords and searched empty fields for scraps of harvested vegetables and edible weeds to eat, who walked several miles each day to hard-labor jobs for meager wages and to reach soup kitchens, and who committed crimes just to be sent to jail, where they were assured of a meal. It’s the story of children and adults who suffered from starvation, disease, and the loss of family and friends, as well as those who died. Illustrated with black and white engravings, it’s also the story of the heroes among the Irish people and how they held on to hope.
 
“Bartoletti humanizes the big events by bringing the reader up close to the lives of ordinary people.”—Booklist (starred review)
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Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

Kindle Book

  • Release date: June 11, 2020

OverDrive Read

  • ISBN: 9780547530857
  • File size: 137384 KB
  • Release date: June 11, 2020

EPUB ebook

  • ISBN: 9780547530857
  • File size: 136761 KB
  • Release date: June 11, 2020

Formats

Kindle Book
OverDrive Read
EPUB ebook

subjects

History Nature Science Young Adult Nonfiction

Languages

English

Levels

Lexile® Measure:1040
Text Difficulty:6-8

Sibert Award Winner: This true story of five years of starvation in Ireland is “a fascinating account of a terrible time” (Kirkus Reviews). 
 
In 1845, a disaster struck Ireland. Overnight, a mysterious blight attacked the potato crops, turning the potatoes black and destroying the only real food of nearly six million people. Over the next five years, the blight attacked again and again. These years are known today as the Great Irish Famine, a time when one million people died from starvation and disease and two million more fled their homeland. 
 
Black Potatoes is the compelling story of men, women, and children who defied landlords and searched empty fields for scraps of harvested vegetables and edible weeds to eat, who walked several miles each day to hard-labor jobs for meager wages and to reach soup kitchens, and who committed crimes just to be sent to jail, where they were assured of a meal. It’s the story of children and adults who suffered from starvation, disease, and the loss of family and friends, as well as those who died. Illustrated with black and white engravings, it’s also the story of the heroes among the Irish people and how they held on to hope.
 
“Bartoletti humanizes the big events by bringing the reader up close to the lives of ordinary people.”—Booklist (starred review)
Expand title description text
History Nature Science Young Adult Nonfiction