Author: Tana Reiff
It was 1845. The Irish were starving. When their crops turned black and died, Johnny and Mary McGee with their son Little John fled the Irish Potato Famine for Boston. A recruiter found them a room and Johnny a job building a railroad. It was exhausting work, away from home, and dangerous. Mary worked at a wool mill and paid a neighbor woman to care for Little John. Their work was hard and paid little, but they had enough to eat – life was better here than in Ireland. Johnny was good at working with the other men, so he was promoted to supervisor. Then his best friend was blown up. Johnny returned to Boston, got a job as a policeman, and worked as a volunteer fireman and political ward heeler. He loved helping other people. He and Mary had seven more children. Then, as the Civil War began, Johnny volunteered. Mary worked and waited alone.
Hopes and Dreams is a series of dramatic historical readers for beginners. The hopes and dreams of the characters in these stories are a reflection of the hopes and dreams of virtually every group of people who have ventured from their homes to a new place for a new life in America. Each story and its characters reflect a part of the history of the United States. Yet, at the same time, each story is different; the characters face challenges, defeats and victories in the fields and factories of Southern California, the gold fields of the West, the construction of the railroad in Utah, Chinatown in San Francisco, the Deep South and Southside Chicago, and New York’s Little Italy.
Available free online, the teacher’s supplement includes the following:
- Brief plot summaries
- Discussion Questions for each chapter
- Historical photographs
- Detailed plot summaries
- Historical background
- Comprehension check: “What Did You Read” Form
- Book report form
- Word play activity
- Final Review Cloze activity
