Nory Ryan’s Song
Patricia Reilly Giff
© 2000
Delacorte Press an imprint of Random House Children’s Books

By 1845, Nory Ryan’s family has lived on Maidin Bay on the west coast of Ireland for generations. It is a beautiful place, full of magic and song, but life there is changing. Every year, Nory’s family plants potatoes while Da sails away on a fishing boat to earn the rent money for Lord Cunningham. The English lord is bent on forcing the Irish from their land so that he can tumble the cottages and clear the fields for grazing sheep. Many people have been forced to leave Maidin Bay forever. Nory’s older sister Maggie sets off for Brooklyn and Nory dreams of a time when the Ryans will all live together in America. When a terrible blight attacks the potatoes, no crop means starvation. And Da does not return when he usually does. Nory must summon the courage and ingenuity to find food, to find hope, to find a way to help her family survive.

Nory Ryan’s Song was read by Susan Lynch.
Susan played the title role in the film Nora and has also appeared in Waking Ned Devine. Her television credits include the award-winning series Cracker and the BBC productions of Ivanhoe, A Royal Scandal and Amongst Women.

What do you think?

How does Nory’s relationship with Anna change throughout the story? Why do you think the change happens? Have you ever had an experience where you realized your first impressions of someone were not accurate? Describe what happened?

Sean Red Mallon is an incredible friend to Nory through the worst of times. How does his friendship support her through their troubles? How does Nory show her trust in Sean? Describe their bond and give examples from the story to support your thoughts.

Online Adventures Where should you go from here?

Patricia Reilly Giff has written many books for children. She was a reading teacher for twenty years before she began writing in a closet! She gives a lot of solid advice for young writers.

Gather some friends and try the Reader’s Theatre play of the first chapter of Nory Ryan’s Song. Check out this fantastic resource page with many other ideas for ways to continue enjoying this powerful story.

Most of the immigrants who came to America during the period following An Gorta Mor came through Ellis Island. Search for immigration records and look at passenger lists, learn about the Wall of Honor to look through public scrapbooks or build your own.

Nory Ryan’s Song won the Texas Bluebonnet Award. Go to their website to explore additional activities based on the book.

Patricia Reilly Giff has written over 60 books for children! Lily’s Crossing (Delacorte Press, 1997) was a Newbery Honor Book, an ALA Notable Book for Children, and a Boston Globe-Horn Book Honor Book. Other Giff titles include: All The Way Home (Delacorte Press, 2001) and The Gift of the Pirate Queen (Yearling Books, 1998).

Grace Greene from The Vermont Department of Libraries suggests you take a look at…

Anderson, Laurie Halse. Fever, 1793. Simon and Schuster, 2000. In 1793 Philadelphia, sixteen-year-old Matilda Cook, separated from her sick mother, learns about perseverance and self-reliance when she is forced to cope with the horrors of a yellow fever epidemic.

Avi. The Escape From Home. Orchard, 1996.
Driven from their impoverished Irish village, fifteen-year-old Maura and her younger brother meet their landlord’s runaway son in Liverpool while all three wait for a ship to America. Their fates continue to intertwine on board ship and in the New World in book two of “Beyond The Western Sea”: Lord Kirkle’s Money (Orchard, 1996).

Bartoletti, Susan Campbell. Black Potatoes: The Story of the Great Irish Famine, 1845-1850. Houghton, 2001. The story of the Irish famine during which one million people died from starvation and disease, and two million more left the country.

Fitzpatrick, Marie-Louise. The Long March: The Choctaw's Gift to Irish Famine Relief. Berkeley, 2001. Choona, a fourteen-year-old Choctaw living in “Indian Territory” is not sure he approves when the elders of his tribe decide to collect money to help the starving Irish during the Potato Famine.


Hesse, Karen. Letters From Rifka. Holt, 1992. In letters to her cousin, a young Jewish girl chronicles her family’s flight from Russia in 1919 and her own experiences when she must be left in Belgium for a while when the others emigrate to America.