Gillian Engberg (Booklist, Sep. 15, 2000 (Vol. 97, No. 2))
From the first scene on a cliff's edge, the characters in Giff's latest novel balance perilously between survival and loss. Set on the west coast of Ireland during the great famine, the story belongs to 12-year-old Nory, who lives with her grandfather, two sisters, and a small brother in a tiny, earthen-floor home. Like most of their neighbors, the Ryans eke out a subsistence living, but when the potatoes begin to rot, that tenuous stability disintegrates, the family disperses, and Nory is left behind to care for her younger brother. Nory fights against starvation, scaling cliff walls for bird eggs, battling violent townspeople, and making broths with Anna, an aging local herbalist with whom Nory becomes exceptionally close. At the last moment, tickets for America arrive from Nory's father, and she leaves for her new life. The finely paced novel balances the physical and emotional horrors of famine--described in visceral detail--with Nory's courage and intelligence, the love she has for her family, and her close friendship with Sean, a local boy. No notes are provided, so children with some basic historical background will glean the most from the story. But Giff brings the landscape and the cultural particulars of the era vividly to life and creates in Nory a heroine to cheer for. A beautiful, heart-wrenching novel that makes a devastating event understandable. Category: Books for Middle Readers--Fiction. 2000, Delacorte, $15.95. Gr. 4-7. Starred Review

Mary Quattlebaum (Children's Literature)
Acclaimed novelist Patricia Reilly Giff draws upon her Irish heritage to create Nory Ryan's Song. Twelve-year-old Nory scrimps and schemes to save her family from starving during Ireland's Great Hunger of 1845-1852, when the potato crop failed and the merciless English landlords forced the Irish from their homes. Nory dreams of food and safety in America--but passage costs money and they have nothing. This powerful first-person narrative, sprinkled throughout with Celtic terms, captures the rhythm and sound of Irish speech. This is historical fiction at its best. 2000, Random House/Delacorte, $15.95. Ages 8 to 12.

Beverley Fahey (Children's Literature)
As the stench of potatoes rotting in the field assailed their noses, Nory and Granda knew there would not be enough food to last the winter. For generations the Ryan family had lived on the west coast of Ireland eking out a living from the rocky soil. Sister Maggie had gone to America and Da was off fishing hoping to make enough for a passage for all to America. To twelve-year-old Nory fell the burden of keeping the family together. One by one farms fell to the English, neighbors died from hunger, and those that could, abandoned their homes and headed for Galway. Nory vowed to wait for Da and never let the fire go out in the hearth. But when baby brother Patchie and she were forced to eat grass and limpets, Nory knew there had to be another way to get food. Help came from old Anna who told her how to steal eggs from the nest of birds on the dangerous rocky cliffs. Every day was a struggle as Nory chanted her mantra--their sister's address in Brooklyn--and longed for the day her family would again be whole. Based on her own family's history and extensive research of the Great Hunger, Patricia Reilly Giff has written a tender and uplifting story of a remarkable girl who saw hope in spite of tragedy. The writing is as proud, strong, and dignified as the people who suffered through this difficult time. It is the author's gift and tribute to the courageous spirit of the Irish. Nory Ryan is an unforgettable heroine and her story is one to treasure. 2000, Delacorte, $15.95. Ages 10 to 14.

Kirkus (Kirkus Reviews, June 15, 2000 (Vol. 68, No. 12))
Newbery Medal-winner Giff ("Lily's Crossing", 1997, etc.) weaves wisps of history into this wrenching tale of an Irish family sundered by the Great Potato Famine. The three Ryan sisters, their mother dead and their "da" away at sea, are struggling to make ends meet and care for old Granda and three-year-old Patrick, as their predatory English landlord waits for his rent on one side and America's golden promise glitters over the horizon on the other. Heralded by an ominous odor, blight sweeps through the potato fields, wiping out the crops overnight. Through young Nory's eyes, the aptly named Great Hunger is devastatingly real: not only do livestock and grain disappear, but so do shellfish and kelp, and finally even nettles and other weeds. Families are mercilessly driven from their homes, the dead are buried without ceremony, and little Patrick becomes ever thinner and more pitiable. Grasping at a sudden chance, big sister Maggie takes off for America, then Granda and teenage Celia set out for Galway, hoping to meet Da on the docks--leaving Nory to care for Patrick, and for old Anna Donnelly, a neighbor with a tragic past, as well. Nory makes the hardest sacrifice of all when an emigrating family invites her along and she sends Patrick in her place. So grim is the picture Giff draws that readers are likely to be startled by the sudden turnaround at the end, when news of Da's reappearance brings ship's passage for all and the prospect of a happy reunion in New York. Still, Nory's patient, stubborn endurance lights up this tale, and the promise of better times to come is well deserved. Riveting. 2000, Delacorte, $15.95. Category: Fiction. Ages 11 to 13. Starred Review. © 2000 Kirkus Reviews/VNU eMedia, Inc. All rights reserved.

Fern Kory (The Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books, October 2000 (Vol. 54, No. 2))
This compelling historical fiction about the Irish potato famine shows how quickly personal health and societal structures break down when nature won’t provide and neither you nor your neighbors have an economic safety net. Nory Ryan, the appealing twelve-year-old narrator, has to draw on her strength (a believable and poignant bravery) and acknowledge her faults (“I didn’t think”) while dealing with an increasingly desperate situation. A process of attrition leaves her responsible for her youngest brother, Patch, and eventually finds her alone with Anna, an old woman she initially fears but who turns out to be a source of support. The story ends on a high note, with Nory setting out to join the rest of her family in Galway prior to their emigration to America. Giff does justice to the historical milieu and places Nory’s individual story of maturation firmly within it, providing episodes and images that touch the reader across time: the package from America that remains in the post office for over a year because Nory’s family does not have the money to pay even the minuscule postage due is particularly powerful. Readers will agree with Anna that it’s a lucky house to have Nory Ryan in it. (Reviewed from galleys) Review Code: R -- Recommended. (c) Copyright 2000, The Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois. 2000, Delacorte, 176p, $15.95. Grades 6-10.

Michele Wehrwein Albion (The Five Owls, September/October 2000 (Vol. 15, No. 1))
Twelve-year-old Nory Ryan was born into a large family living on Ireland's west coast. Once, they lived happily in their little house with the thatched roof. But things have changed. Mam died when brother Patrick, called Patch, was born. Da went out to sea to earn money to pay the English landlord's rent. Sister Maggie married and traveled to a mystical place called Brooklyn. Nory, sister Celia, Patch and their Granda are left to fend for themselves. Nory and the remaining members of the Ryan clan have always known poverty and hunger. But now Lord Cunningham has decided grazing sheep need the land more than Irish farmers. When his tenants fail to pay rent, he confiscates their chickens, pigs, and cows. Then he tumbles down their houses. With no land, they are homeless and hungry. Lucky ones emigrate to the United States. But there is no money for the Ryan family's passage. Then the sidhe slithers across the hills. The evil creature blights the potatoes. Strong green shoots are replaced by withered stems and beneath them, brown ooze. It sweeps across the country, field by field, killing everything in its path. In what is later called the Potato Famine or the Great Hunger, meager supplies of food run out. With no potatoes to eat, survivors turn to the rivers, which are soon emptied of fish. Every scrap of seaweed and sea life is cleaned from ocean beaches. Some resort to eating grass. Starvation and death seem inevitable. In order to survive Nory must conquer fear and her own character flaws. She takes responsibility for her family. In doing so, she makes the first steps in the transition from child to adult. Young Nory defies hopelessness and doubt and has the courage to look to the future. In the process, she learns about the importance of self-sacrifice and love. Patricia Reilly Giff is the well known author of over fifty books. Her clear prose and realistic characters are popular with middle school readers. Last year Lily's Crossing, a tale about a young girl coming to grips with the tragedy of war, won her a Newbery Award. Nory Ryan's Song may win her another. Thanks to thorough research with her own family members and interviews with descendants of Irish famine survivors, Giff has creating an authentic story with a riveting plot line. Her tale demonstrates the true depths of desperation and the perseverance required for survival. The book leaves the reader asking for more. Let's hope there is a sequel to Nory Ryan's Song. 2000, Delacorte Press, $15.95. Ages 9 to 12.

Horn Book (The Horn Book Guide, Spring 2001)
Giff recounts the tragic days of Ireland's mid-nineteenth-century potato famine. Twelve-year-old Nory's struggle to find food for her family brings her to the outcast village wise woman, where she overcomes her superstitions to learn the art of healing. Reflective rather than suspenseful, this first-person narrative allows the reader to become an eyewitness to history. This is a story of raw courage that ends hopefully if not happily. Glos. Category: Intermediate Fiction. 2000, Delacorte, 152pp, $15.95. Ages 9 to 12. Rating: 2: Superior, well above average.

Sally Meyers (The Lorgnette - Heart of Texas Reviews (Vol. 13, No. 3))
Patricia Giff writes of Ireland during the great potato famine, in the years of 1845-52. Over a million people died of starvation and illness. Over three million people left Ireland for the United States. The author says, "Six of my eight great-grandparents lived through the famine. When they came to America, they must have been ashamed--as if it had been their fault that they had no food, no schooling, that the clothes they wore were torn and filthy." Patricia Giff tells the story of Nory Ryan from stories she heard from her grandmothers and people in Ireland. Nory might have been Ms. Giff's great-grandmother. Nory lives with her brother, sister, and granddad on Maidin Bay on the West Coast of Ireland. Her father has been gone for some time, working on a fishing boat to earn rent money for Lord Cunningham. During the worst of the famine, Nory summons the courage and ingenuity to find food and hope and survival for her family and herself. One by one, Nory sees her family leave for America until only she is left with Anna, a neighbor that she has grown to love. This is an incredible portrayal of a twelve-year-old girl's day-by-day struggle to stay alive. The story is filled with suspense and surprises. Young people and adults alike will gain new insight into the basic ideas of home, family, friendship, and hope. Grades 5-8. 2000, Delacorte, 148p, $15.95. Ages 10 to 14.

Maura Bresnahan (VOYA, February 2001 (Vol. 23, No. 6))
Growing up on Ireland's west coast in the middle of the nineteenth century has not been easy for twelve-year-old Nory Ryan, but her life swiftly becomes a struggle for survival when the potato blight reaches her little corner of the world. The author has pieced together remnants of her own family heritage in this fictionalized account that introduces readers to the Great Hunger that devastated Ireland from 1845 to 1852. The Ryans are tenant farmers who will lose their livelihood if evicted from their land. To earn the rental fee, Nory's father works as a fisherman, leaving the children in care of their grandfather. While Nory's father is away, the blight draws ever closer, forcing the motherless children to use all their resourcefulness to stay together despite the threat of eviction. Nory draws inspiration from the mythical Queen Maeve of Irish legend as well as support from a local healer, elderly Anna Donnelly, as she dreams of uniting her family in America. Giff's first-person narrative is filled with imagery. Vivid detail brings to life the fields filled with rotting crops, the merciless landlords, and the rocky landscape that offers no respite to the starving families. Readers will be drawn to Nory's spirit and admire the courage she shows while helping her family and friends. By breathing life into the events that led her great-grandparents to emigrate from Ireland, the author transports readers to a time and place few will be able to forget. VOYA CODES: 5Q 3P M J (Hard to imagine it being any better written; Will appeal with pushing; Middle School, defined as grades 6 to 8; Junior High, defined as grades 7 to 9). 2000, Delacorte, 148p, $15.95. Ages 11 to 15.