- Age: Primary - Intermediate

- About a girl and her family who grew up in Ireland who was forced to move to America because of the great potato famine. Along the way she collects small tokens of home, which brighten the family when they are in America.

- I would have it in my classroom because it is a great reminder for everyone to notice and appriecate the "small beauties" in life.

Darcy lived with her family in Ireland, but she was much different from them. She loved the small beauties in the world that most people overlooked, and she would stop constantly to appreciate them and take notice. When a famine strikes and the family soon loses everything, they are forced to move to America. While they leave all, they have and are forced to make and find a new home, Darcy has a keepsake that will help them feel at home and see the beauty in the situation they are in.
The famine that struck Ireland devastated and destroyed the lives of many people living there during the time. While the O’Hara family in the story is fictional, the story is very realistic and was most likely like a lot of other family’s stories there. Darcy’s passion for finding the good in all the bad is something that we can all do, even today, when faced or experiencing things that we feel we can never come back from. The story gives background and knowledge to how hard the famine struck the people of Ireland, but also teaches a lesson that can be carried over in the reader’s ever day lives. I think it is a story that everyone can find a way to relate to in some aspect. ( )

From the moment Darcy Heart O'Hara was born her family knew she had a gift, a "second sight" as her grandma immediately deemed. She noticed the beauty in all things around her, the birds, flowers, the clouds, and even the pebbles. As her family is stricken with hardship and their potato crop rots, Darcy still finds beauty in her surroundings. Sadly, the family must leave their beloved Ireland and migrate to a land of new beginnings, the United States. As her family mourns the loss of their land and home, Darcy fills the room with all of her small beauties she has kept, from a feather, to flowers, a bead from her grandma's rosary and finally a piece of hearthstone from their previous homeland.
The small bits from the previous home brings joyful memories to all of the family and Darcy realizes the importance of her gift that so many took forgranted. ( )

Small Beauties is about a family in Ireland that lived on a potato farm. There was a baby born and they named her Darcy Heart because her grandmother saw into the future that she held the heart of the family. Darcy is very different from her family members. The rest of the family is so worried about the farm and Darcy gets distracted by the little things like flowers, pebbles, and even the clouds. To her, these were the finer things in life and she really appreciated them in ways that others didn't.

The time frame that this story took place in was 1845, during the Great Famine or the Great Hunger, which was the Potato famine. This was when all the potato crop went bad and everyone was starving and had no money. The O'Hara family was forced to emigrate to the United States. Once they were there, Darcy pulls out all the things that she saved in the hem of her dress, and it brought back all the great memories of Ireland.

I really enjoyed the plot of this story. It shows that even the smaller and non important things can somehow have a greater meaning. This teaches that you don't need the most extravagant things to have it all. Family is enough. ( )

I was honestly very interested in the plot of this story and found it very sad and touching. This book tells the story of a young girl, named Darcy, and her family who are forced to emigrate from Ireland to America during the potato famine of the 1840s. I thought the illustrations were beautiful and represented the setting and characters' feelings very well. I think this would be a great book to use in a classroom of students who are learning about emigration. ( )