The Reading Warehouse

In the mid-1840s, potato blight ruined the crops of impoverished farmers across Ireland. Many families went hungry without their main source of food. Disease struck down people weakened by starvation as the government struggled to address the problem. Would the country ever recover?

To understand the impact of a disaster, you must understand its causes. How did the system of landlords and tenants contribute to the disaster? How did British views of the Irish keep leaders from providing suitable aid? Investigate the disaster from a cause-and-effect perspective and find out

Jill Sherman writes fiction and nonfiction books for young readers. She started out her career in publishing as an editor, but soon discovered that her real joy was in writing. She has written dozens of books for young people, including fiction works, as well as news and magazine articles for print and digital publications. She thoroughly enjoys researching new topics to provide young readers with the best information that they can use in their own studies. Jill lives and writes in Brooklyn, New York.