Small beauties [eBook - NC Kids Digital Library] : The Journey of Darcy Heart O'Hara

"One day this child shall hold the very heart of our family in the palm of her hand," predicts Granny on the day Darcy Heart O'Hara is born in a cottage on Derry Lane, in the town of Pobble O'Keefe, in County Kerry, Ireland. Darcy grows up to be a noticer, delighting in the small beauties all around her: a dew-covered spider web, castles in the clouds, a shiny wooden rosary bead. Life is simple but sweet in Pobble O'Keefe, with her family gathered round the hearth in the evenings while Granddad's voice fills the small room with stories. But in 1845, a blight strikes the land, the potatoes turn rotten, and Darcy and her family must leave Ireland forever. How will Darcy ever find a way to to bring the small beauties of home across the sea to America? Elvira Woodruff's story of emigration, heartbreak, and hope is vividly illustrated with the warm, evocative oil paintings of Adam Rex. Darcy Heart O'Hara, a young Irish girl who neglects her chores to observe the beauties of nature and everyday life, shares "family memories" with her homesick parents and siblings after the O'Haras are forced to emigrate to America in the 1840s. Darcy Heart O'Hara, a young Irish girl who neglects her chores to observe the beauties of nature and everyday life, shares "family memories" with her homesick parents and siblings after the O'Haras are forced to immigrate to America in the 1840s