Customer Reviews

Maggie's Door

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1 star:		(1)

 

 

Nory Ryan has a dream that one day her family will be together again. They will be in America, standing outside the door of her sister Maggie's house in Brooklyn. Nory's friend and neighbor, Sean Red Mallon, also has a dream. He imagines himself together with his brother Francey and Francey's new young wife, Maggie. Nory will be there with her family and they will all be standing outside Maggie's door.

Nory and Sean share the same dream, but for now they have only hunger and misery in their lives after the potato famine hits Ireland. With no hope left, the Ryans and Mallons have decided to leave Ireland and in small groups have set off on foot for the nearest port to get a ship to England and then another ship to America.

Starving, weak, and not knowing the world beyond their own small community, the straggling travelers lose one another in the chaos of a famine-stricken Ireland. Sean finds himself alone and has to make his own way to America without a ticket or money. In his adventures, he makes a great discovery that leads him to a new goal in life as he decides that he is going to learn how to read and will have a book of his own one day.

Patricia Reilly Giff keeps the children's stories separate, alternating chapters and maintaining a sense of suspense as to whether or not the family members will find one another. Giff's graphic description of the horrors of the famine makes her story very powerful. The poverty is almost beyond our understanding and the suffering of the Irish people is unspeakable. Giff also is a master of imagery. For example, when she describes the potato crop as a stinking "ooze" we visualize a vast contrast to the pretty bluish purple flowers that one sees blossoming in a field of healthy potato plants.

MAGGIE'S DOOR is a book that most readers will find disturbing. At the same time, it reminds us of the strength and endurance of the human spirit and how powerful love can be. No matter how much people suffer, they can rise above their anguish and find what it takes to keep on going and even help others. One note...readers who have not yet read NORY RYAN'S SONG may want to pick that up. It is the pre-quel to MAGGIE'S DOOR and while it is not necessary to read the titles in order, it will give readers an even deeper understanding of the material.

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It is the great potato famine of Ireland and everyone is starving, save the rich Englishmen. Surviving on seaweed and scavenged eggs from the seabird's nests, Nory knows it is her turn. Her family has gone on, and she has nothing to hold her back.

Nory Ryan sets out, down the road to Galway, alone. She hopes to find her young brother and her neighbor Sean Red Mallon, and together set sail for America. Her sister Maggie has already arrived in Brooklyn, and waits at 416 Smith Street for her family to join her and her new husband, Sean Red's brother.

Nory's tale and Sean's are told in alternating chapters and sometimes with connecting moments that demonstrate the synchronicity of life. Sean is forced to leave his Mam and Nory's brother Patch, and when he returns they are nowhere to be found. Distraught, he hopes to find them again and manages to gain passage to Liverpool as ballast in the hold of a ship. From there he is to be the cook's assistant on another ship to America. It is the only way, and he is lucky to have found it.

Will Nory find her brother, and perhaps even her father and sister at the docks? Will she find passage on a ship, and if she does, will she survive the trip? And what of her friend Sean - they were destined to be together, or so she thought.

In a tale as old as America herself, Patricia Reilly Giff gives us a glimpse into the realities of our immigrant forefathers and mothers. My own great great grandfather an immigrant to New York, the story hits home for me, as it will most Americans. Giff's understanding and interest in the era shows and her gift of story telling shines. Maggie's Door awaits at 416 Smith Street and the journey is unforgettable. The book is suitable for older readers and adults alike, bringing history to life before your eyes.

Maggie's Door
By: Lila Garcia


Nory Ryan is a young Irish girl who lives through what is now known as the "potato famine." Many people in Ireland are going to America to get away from this monstrosity. Nory's sister has already landed in America, and is waiting for the rest of her family.
So, Nory along with Patch, her brother, and Granda, her grandfather, set off for America in a smelly ship called "Samson."
There Nory will learn what it means to "stand together and never let go, even if there are bad times ahead."
Maggie's Door, an awesome sequel to Nory Ryan's Song, is a stunning novel about courage, love and determination. Patricia Giff makes it feel as though one was actually there. This is also a book in which the reader will see how far people go for the ones they love.

The Best Book you would ever Read!!!


Nory walked down the long dirt road, which led to the ship that would take her, her dad and her younger brother to New York. Her mom died about eight years ago right after her little brother was born, her town's potato crop went down and everyone has to move to Brooklyn, New York.

This book Maggie's Door really puts you in the action of the story. It makes you feel like your there, you're the one who has to move to a different place, you have no food to eat. It makes you feel bad for Nory and her family to have to see what they have to go through, just to have something to eat, and a place to live.

This book has thought me that even I the worst of times never give up. You may think that nothing could get any worse, but then it does. While Nory and her brother are on the ship there grandpa dies, from then until they arrive in Brooklyn they have to survive on there own.

Now you know some information about his awesome book Maggie's Door, maybe you will read it to find out some more things that Nory and her brother go through. I would recommend this book for people who like to read books about adventures, if so then this would be a good book for you. This would also be a good book for kids between the ages of 12-15, because they would be more likely to understand it than a younger kid. But if you're the kind of person that likes books about fighting and wars than this is not the book for you.

I thought this was a GREAT book!! When i ended the book it seemed like their should be another seaqule to Maggies Door. Its a must read!

Ireland's poorest depended heavily on potatoes for their daily survival, eating the vegetable for all three meals. In "Nory Ryan's Song", a fungus wipes out the entire crop of many of the residents. Nory's friend Sean and his mother are on their way to America, taking with them Nory's very young brother, Patch. "Maggie's Door" is the continuation of that story as Nory leaves her new friend Anna and embarks alone on a long walk from their village to the sea so as to catch the boat going to Brooklyn where she is to meet the rest of her family. Sean's trip is also documented, with the chapters moving between his journey and hers, including the travails that such a trip would entail.

Nory hurts herself. Food is stolen from her.

Sean and his mother and Patch become separated when an Englishman demands that Sean take a side trip to the man's house for another horse, promising him food for his trouble. Because of the promise of food, his mother encourages him to go. When Sean returns, he is unable to find his mother or Patch. Not knowing what to do, he boards the boat alone, enduring his own hardships.

The author does a good job in these two books, keeping these young characters from being "over the top" in what they can manage on their own. They are not superheroes and Patricia Reilly Giff doesn't make them out to be, keeping the story believable in all its accounts.

The author's genius is in taking a complicated historical subject and rendering it powerfully and beautifully, all while keeping the language and the reading skills on an elementary enough level for her readers. My nine year old loved this book, my twelve year old loved this book and I loved this book.

The action and pacing are great, moving the story along -- from its start on the coast of Ireland during the days of the potato blight, through the action in Galway where Norey boards the ship to the final chapter where they meet up once again with her family in Brooklyn. The only problem is that the story ends too soon! I'm really hoping there will be a sequel to this book, because we're all waiting for it.

One final thought: The author's decision to include both a male and female character with alternating chapters was excellent, and boys in this age range should not be put off by the title or the cover art because this is not just a girl's book. This is a story that will captivate young readers, both male and female.

A tribute to determination, fortitude, the staying spirit, "Maggie's Door" is a historical novel of the crossing of a microcosm of Irish from Maidin Bay to Galway to New York to Brooklyn to Maggie's Door.

The potato blight, which began in Ireland in 1845, continued for several years and was the catalyst for two to three million Irish immigrants to America. Leaving with only what they had on or could carry in a cloth bag, these Irish sought a new life, free of the downright mean English, fetid fields, and absolutely no food for people who worked the hostile land for potatoes as their only sustenance.


The trip by ship in cramped, filthy conditions was hardly better, but at least they had bug-filled meal to heat in a little water to eat. At least, a chance at a new life awaited them, making the journey worth its horrible conditions. (There is a museum in southern Ireland which depicts the Crossing and all its horrors.)

The microcosmic story of Nory Ryan features this twelve-year-old girl, who faces unknown perils to walk to Galway to find any family to make the Crossing. Her family is divided: Maggie and her husband went ahead a year ago. Da, Granda, and a sister have gone, and now Nory. Her life-long friend and neighbor Sean Red, also went ahead with his Mam and Patch, Nory's three-year-old brother.

Patricia Reilly Giff tells the story in alternating voices, first Nory's, then Sean's and how the stories meet on the Crossing. The writing is so vivid that I felt right there as part of the story, not as a reader looking in. I felt the panicky confinement, the malodorous smells of vomit, urine, feces, tasted the puckering of the meal. At the end of the journey some tried to wash their clothes by tying them to strings and dipping them in the ocean. After all, a doctor would examine them. If they did not meet health standards, they would be sent back.

Will this little band of Irish make it to Maggie's Door? Will more problems arise to torment them in the new country? What more is there to endure?

There is a third book in the series--"Water Street." The reader interested in this tragic piece of Irish history and the transition to the American history of many of our ancestors can find a great fictional account in this trilogy.
Nory Ryan's Song, Book 1
Maggie's Door Book 2
Water Street, Book 3

I thought this was a great book!!!! Whan i finshed the book i thought their should be a sequel to it i hope their will be one !!! its a must read!!!!

Sean and Nory are neighbors. They both set off to reach the same place, Nory's sister, Maggie's door. Sean lost his mother and brothe on the read, then he ran into a king that was stranded. The king told Sean that if he ran back to kis castle and sent someone with a horse than he would give hem food. Sean ran back to the castle and told the guard. The guard sent someone but wouldn't give him any food. Sean went to the kitchen door and the cook gave him food. Nory left on her journey with a small sack of food. She hurt her foot a lettle way through so she couldn't move as fast. She was at the beach about to eat some food and a girl walked up and took it. The girl gave her a plank of wood.