SMALL BEAUTIES: the Journey of Darcy Heart O'Hara by Elvira Woodruff

Small Beauties, by Elvira Woodruff and art by Adam Rex is probably one of the most moving tales in a children’s book I have read in recent years. The story is simple but, unfortunately, a common story which affected many generations on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean. The time period in which the story takes place is in the mid 1840s and the story begins in Ireland. The Great Famine, which more or less started in 1845 and lasted until at least 1851 is the background for the beginning of this saga. Darcy Heart O’Hara is a small girl living in a small house in Ireland. Her parents and Grandparents have a small holding or small farm, in which they scratch out a meager, at best, living. Darcy is fond of small things, a flower, a pebble, a blade of grass, a bird in flight and a bird's lost feather. All of these things make up Darcy’s world because the real world as she knows it is crashing around her as the first crop of potatoes fail and then the next. Darcy has the wonderful ability to see beauty where others see only hard work and ruin.

A very large number of Americans (and Canadians) today can trace their roots back to these horrible years in Ireland. It is as much our heritage as it is the Irish. They, in essence, are us. We tend to forget this and seem to be forgetting it more and more as each year passes. This is not a good thing as our children and grandchildren need to know just where they came from. This book reintroduces this disaster and, through a child’s eye, gives us a glimpse of where many of us came from. The book tells of the families’ forced movement from their home by the “Lords in Authority,” the burning of their home and possessions, and eventually their immigration to America. I will say at this point that the author has done a wonderful job of telling this story without the horrible details that were actually involved, something I feel would not be particularly good or appropriate for this age group to read, i.e. the age group targeted by the book. The story conveys the feelings and the trauma, without giving the gory details. This is good.

Through all this, Darcy, the little girl, keeps her small treasures of beauty. We have the telling of wonderful tales by her old grandfather and are able to see the unconquerable courage of a little girl and her people. This is a tale well worth telling and well worth remembering.

The art work is masterfully done in pencil, oil and charcoal by Adam Rex and the pictures alone are worth the price of the book. The text is simple, concise and quite understandable. It goes perfectly with the illustrations.

I do hope that we all have the ability to keep a bit of the burnt hearthstone with us always.

Reading level: There is quite a difference of opinion here. I personally feel this one is fine for grade level 2-5. It is a difficult call though, as most adults I know who have read this one love it as much as the kids.

Considerations :::
Small Beauties has an Accelerated Reading (AR) designation of 4.6 which means that the average 4th Grader in the 6th month of school should be able to read it without getting frustrated by the vocabulary. It can be read aloud to any age.