Ilene Cooper (Booklist, Sep. 15, 2004 (Vol. 101, No. 2))
In 1870, 13-year-old Dina is forced to flee Germany after being mistaken for a spy, and she takes her sister's place on a ship to America, where she will live with Uncle, his young wife, Barbara, and baby Marie. After arriving, Dina finds herself in Brooklyn, sleeping in a stifling closet. Worst of all, she must earn her room and board by sewing. Although talented, Dina despises the work, but sewing is part of Uncle's plan to improve their situation, so Dina finds herself either at the machine or doing the endless work of a tenement life. There are many books about immigrants in the U.S; the strengths of this one are its profuse details and its cranky heroine. And a heroine Dina is, sometimes exaggeratedly so, as when she saves both Barbara and Marie from a fire. Yet, Dina is not a stock character; she's a real child, who works hard, literally and figuratively, to find her way. When she realizes that designing dresses is something she loves, readers will cheer her perseverance, and the happy ending seems well deserved. Category: Books for Middle Readers--Fiction. 2004, Random/Wendy Lamb, $15.95, $17.99. Gr. 4-7.

Mary Quattlebaum (Children's Literature)
Another Irish girl makes a similar harrowing Atlantic crossing in Maggie's Door. This sequel to the acclaimed Nory Ryan's Song brings Nory by ship to the home of her older sister Maggie in Brooklyn--and a new life. Newbery Honor winner Patricia Reilly Giff tells of the journey in chapters alternating in point of view between Nory and her neighbor Sean Red Mallon. So compellingly drawn are Giff's characters that young readers will grieve, yearn and rejoice with them as they struggle with loss and the sickness and unhealthy conditions on board. Giff has such a gift for the telling detail--the fierce call of the Irish seabirds, the papery tongue of a tiny pig--that readers will feel they have traveled the long, hard way with Nory. 2003, Wendy Lamb Books/Random House, $15.95. Ages 8 to 12.

Marya Jansen-Gruber (Children's Literature)
Nory Ryan has a dream that one day her family will all be together again. They will be in Brooklyn in America, standing outside the door of her sister Maggie's house. Sean "Red" Mallon also has a dream. He imagines himself together with his brother Francis and Francis' new young wife Maggie. Nory Ryan, his best friend and Maggie's sister will be there with her family, and they will all be standing outside Maggie's door. These two children have this same dream but for now they have only hunger and misery in their lives. 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 thence 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. Slowly and painfully, Nory and Sean converge on one another, finally reuniting. Patricia Reilly Giff keeps the children's stories in separate, alternating chapters, maintaining a state of suspense as to whether the family members will, in fact, be able to find one another. The author's description of the horrors of the famine in such a matter-of-fact way makes her story very powerful. The people accept what is happening to them, which appalls us. Their poverty is almost beyond our understanding and their suffering unspeakable. Patricia Reilly Giff is also is a master of the use of imagery. For example, she frequently describes the potato crop as a stinking "ooze" in contrast to the pretty bluish purple flowers that one sees blossoming in a field of healthy potato plants. The companion to Nory Ryan's Song, this is a book that most readers will find disturbing. At the same time, it reminds one 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 it and still find the ability to keep on going and even able to help others. 2003, Wendy Lamb Books, $15.95. Ages 9 to 12.

Kirkus (Kirkus Reviews, August 1, 2003 (Vol. 71, No. 15))
Nory Ryan is the last of her family to leave 1840s famine-tortured Ireland to join her sister Maggie in Brooklyn. Giff tells the story of the parallel journeys of Nory, her friend Sean, and some of her family members as they encounter the cruelties of English landlords, fellow travelers who would steal any bit of food they could get, the occasional kindness of those same desperate strangers, as well as their own searing hunger. Sean and Nory discover each other again during the horrors of the ocean-crossing on one of the infamous "coffin" ships. They suffer illness and pain and loss until they reach America and Maggie's door at 416 Smith Street. Based on her own family's history, Giff employs vivid language, attention to detail, and fully realized characters, along with extensive research to bring the era and its people to life. Heart-wrenching and unforgettable. 2003, Wendy Lamb/Random, $15.95. Category: Historical fiction. Ages 10 to 14. Starred Review. © 2003 Kirkus Reviews/VNU eMedia, Inc. All rights reserved.

Sherry Hoy (Library Media Connection, March 2004)
This continues Nory Ryan's story begun in Nory Ryan's Song (Lamb/Random House, 2000). After a brief five-word glossary and a cast of characters for Maidin Bay (Ireland), we travel with Rory and her neighbor Sean on their separate journeys to America. Told in alternating chapters, first Sean, then Rory finally make it by foot to a port city and secure passage. Sean must first act as ballast standing in the hold with hundreds of other men for the ship's trip to Liverpool. The original cargo of pigs died and was thrown in the ocean: this is the cheap way to keep the ship from turning on her side. Rory carries her younger brother, Patch, to the port, where their grandda finds them and books them all passage. Unknown to the young people, they are on the same vessel. Rory's grandfather dies, Sean is severely burned, but they do make it to 416 Smith Street in Brooklyn, New York, where Nory's sister Maggie lives married to Sean's brother. There is a two-page afterward in which Giff gives background on the Potato Famine and her own ancestors' flight to America. There will be sure readership for this: those waiting to find out more about Rory's story; those who enjoy historical fiction; those working on reports/projects about Ireland and the potato famine; and Giff fans. Giff is gifted in her ability to let the actions and feelings of the main characters tell the story and portray the hardships; no didactic lessons here-history comes alive! Highly Recommended. 2003, Wendy Lamb Books (Random House), 158pp., $15.95 hc. Ages 9 to 14.

Vicki Arkoff (Midwest Book Review, "Vicki's Bookshelf" column, November 2003)
Fans of "Nory Ryan's Song" now have an additional reason to sing the praises for author Patricia Reilly Giff. The much-lauded children's writer has chosen to make her latest book a gripping sequel to the award-winning historical-fiction novel, finally revealing what happened to Nory, the Irish girl who set out alone on the road to Galway, hoping to find her family and sail for America. Told by in alternating chapters by Nory and her neighbor Sean Red Mallon, the twin stories parallel on another, yet both arrive at the same destination: the home of Nory's older sister Maggie in Brooklyn, New York. And though the passage is harrowing, Nory and Sean -- as well as Da, Granda, sister Celia, and little brother Patch -- are each pulled onward by a single dream: to reach Maggie's door. Once again, Giff provides her readers with an unforgettable story of one girl's courage, hope and strength during a time of hardship. And with no food an shelter to rely on, Nory must put on a brave face, especially when she is reunited with Patch along the way. Giff fans will also enjoy that the prequel, "Nory Ryan's Song," is also now available in a paperback reissue with new cover art, and that a new audio release of "Maggie's Door" features the voice talents of actress Fionnula Flanagan. 2003, Wendy Lamb Books / Random House, 160 pages, $15.95.

Elizabeth Bush (The Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books, February 2004 (Vol. 57, No. 6))
Nory Ryan's Song (BCCB 10/00) left the young nineteenth-century teen poised for an arduous trek to Galway, where she hopes to join up with her father, grandfather, sister, and family friends who have taken her younger brother under their wing. The entire party will then embark for New York and put poverty and famine behind them. Escape, even with a steamship ticket in hand, is not so easily accomplished; already worn by hunger and anxiety, Nory can barely pull herself along the road, and Nory's sweetheart, Sean, is faring no better. Entrusted with the care of his mother and Nory's brother Patch, Sean reluctantly obeys a local landowner who orders him to fetch a fresh horse, and the young man returns to find his charges are gone. Chapters alternately follow Nory and Sean, and readers watch as their paths finally merge in Liverpool aboard the Samson, although it will take Nory and Sean time and further heartache to realize they're both aboard the same vessel bound for America. There's a fair amount of serendipity driving characters toward their destination. Granda's discovery of Nory in the crowded port is improbable, at best, and Sean's shipboard injury, which calls for Nory's healing skills, is a bit overplotted. Still, enough starving, impoverished souls did indeed make it out of Ireland that Fate should, perhaps, be given its due. Review Code: R -- Recommended. (c) Copyright 2004, The Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois. 2003, Lamb, 158p, $17.99 and $15.95. Grades 5-9.

Horn Book (The Horn Book Guide, Spring 2004)
At the end of Nory Ryan's Song, Nory is trying to meet up with her family so they can all sail to America. This book alternates between the story of Nory's journey and that of her friend Sean, traveling with Nory's little brother. Giff uses vivid language and precisely detailed observation to convey experience and emotion. Nory and Sean's trip, complete by story's end, is just the beginning of a new and different type of journey. Category: Intermediate Fiction. 2003, Random/Lamb, 159pp, $15.95, $17.99. Ages 9 to 12. Rating: 2: Superior, well above average.