FORM: Prose GENRE: Realistic Fiction
  SUBGENRE: Historical Realistic Fiction

AUTHOR: Marita Conlon-McKenna

TITLE: Under the Hawthorn Tree

ILLUSTRATOR: N/A

PUBLISHER: Puffin Books. COPYRIGHT DATE: 1990
 New York, NY

ISBN: 0-590-46713-1

Honors:  Winner of the International Reading Association Childrenís Book Award
 

CRITERIA FOR ASSESSING   Historical Realistic Fiction

 1. Language: informal, cadence of speech; dialogue a prominent feature

  Colloquial language of common people of the times used; contains much dialogue

 2. Characters: real humans or animals

  Two sisters and a brother; mother, father; aunts; neighbors; friends

 3. Setting:  place -- real places or places that might be in the physical world
   time -- prior to the readerís birth

  Place = Ireland
  Time = The Great Famine of 1845-1850

 4. Plot: narrative, much dialogue; short, simple or long, complex; episodic or novel development

  Lots of dialogue; recounting the journey of three children during the Great Famine of 1845-1850 to find their aunts in a faraway city

 5. Theme: psychological or emotional growth of the main character; social issues of the culture of the setting; family relationships; an emotional quest

  This book chronicles both the psychological and emotional growth of the main character as she struggles to get her sister and brother to the safety of their aunts.  It also speaks of social issues; for example, the grain that could have fed the poor was instead sold to the highest ìforeignî bidder and there was no work for the poor, who were expected to go to workhouses when the farms they were tending (not owned by them) were taken away from them and given to another tenant.  Poor children were treated as things to be worked from the day they could walk and were not valued as much more than simple property.  Their parents were valued for little more and were looked down upon and shunned by ìhigh society.î  Because the food that was available to the poor was often rancid, much disease also plagued their ranks and many children did not make it past the first few months of life.  Family relationships among the poor, however, were strong.  When parents were gone, either by death or by choice, children were taken in by the next closest relative and raised as if they had always lived there.  Many children were raised by others than their parents because parents were forced by the failure of crops to go further and further afield to look for work, or they starved themselves to provide their children with the barest of necessities and died as a result of either starvation or disease caused by rancid food and the conditions in which they were forced to work.

 6. Devices: includes actual historical events or characters; often uses documented information; sometimes uses writing or speech styles of the times

  This book embodies a true historical event and characters that are entirely plausible.  Much of the happenings in the story can be linked back to documented information regarding the Great Famine.  Much of the speech in the dialogue is reflective of the speech patterns of the common people of that time and in that place.  (See attachment: Simple History of the Great Famine)
 
 
 

IF FICTION:
SETTING: PLACE: Ireland TIME: 1845-1850 (sometime during this period)
Major Characters: Eily, Michael, Peggy, Secondary Characters:  Mother, Father, Baby Bridget, Aunts Nano and Lena, neighbors
 

ANNOTATION: Eily, Michael, and Peggy OíDriscoll struggle to stay alive during the Great Potato Famine that has struck Ireland.  First their father leaves to find work when the crops fail and then, when he does not return, their mother follows in an attempt to find him because she has sold everything that was precious to her and has nothing left with which to buy food.  When the children learn that they will be sent to live at the poorhouse, they run away.  In distant Castletaggart live their great-aunts, who are their only hope of surviving.  And so the children set off on the road to Castletaggart, battling starvation, fatigue, and fever in their effort to reach a safe haven.