5thCLASS_1_96_jg:Layout 1 5/3/12 17:37 Page 84


1. Read the title of the chapter and look at the illustration. What do you predict this story will be about?


2. This story is set during the famine in Ireland. What do you know about the famine?


Under the Hawthorn Tree MaritaConlon-McKenna


Chapter one: Hunger


The air felt cold and damp as Eily stirred in her bed and tried to pull a bit more of the blanket up to her shoulders. Her little sister Peggy moved against her. Peggy was snoring again. She always did when she had a cold. The fire was nearly out. The hot ash made a soft glow in the gloom of the cottage. Mother was crooning quietly to the baby. Bridget’s eyes were closed and her soft face looked paler than ever as she lay wrapped in Mother’s shawl, her little fist clinging to a piece of the long chestnut-coloured hair. Bridget was ill – they all knew it. Underneath the wrapped shawl her body was too thin, her skin white and either too hot or too cold to the touch. Mother held her all day and all night as if trying to will some of her strength into the little one so loved. Eily could feel tears at the back of her eyes. Sometimes she thought that maybe this was all a dream and soon she would wake up and laugh at it, but the hunger pain in her tummy and the sadness in her heart were enough to know that it was real. She closed her eyes and remembered.


What evidence do we have that this family is in trouble? 84


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