![]() ![]() What draws the younger reader in? In a word, empathy. Below the image of Michael carrying a sack the reader is told (an advertisement) in white font-The bestselling classic trilogy: Children of the Famine. ![]() The cover ticks the boxes, without standing out. Covers conform to a certain genre which reassures the reader that when they open then biscuit tin there’ll be biscuits inside. Eily O’Driscoll, the little mother, on the cusp of adolescence with an arm around her brother Michael aged 12 and wee sister Peggy aged seven. Name of the story, Under the Hawthorn Tree, in white below it, where green hills meet sky, the orange roof of a white cottage and the twisted branches of (what I suppose is) a hawthorn tree. Author’s name in black block on the title page. The cover by Irish artist, PJ Lynch seems bog-standard. ![]() I’m looking for markers that make it a success where other fail, something I could make use of. A book of 150 pages, its simple sentences and style meant I could digest the book in one sitting. Under the Hawthorn Tree is a children’s book and international bestseller set in 1845-200 000 copies sold in Ireland alone. I’m in the privileged position of never knowing life-threatening hunger. I’ve been reading about the Irish Famine 1845-51. ![]()
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