It strikes me sometimes that many young adults spend their time on novels about vampires, zombies, and girls who live in some whacked-out dystopian future.
Look, I’ll be the first to admit I loved all three of the Hunger Game books. And the movies, too. Jennifer Lawrence is the perfect Katniss.
Makes me wonder sometimes what actress will get to play Mary Boland. See, Mary is every bit as brave and vulnerable as Katniss, but in Shanty Gold, the real-life hunger games drove her out of Ireland in 1849—along with more than a million other starving people.
How come? Same as always. Greed. The Brits were the bad guys back then. They starved the Irish with their insatiable desires for fish and grains. They even scalped beautiful Ireland of all her trees in order to build their ships.
The good news? Ireland is now enjoying a huge reforestation, and it’s greener than ever.