Customer Reviews

A 12-year old's account of the Easter Rebellion. - By: laurie.keating@verizon.net, 27 Feb 2001
During a year's stayin Ireland, my children & I read this book & found it to be a wonderful account of the Easter Rebellion, written from the viewpoint of a 12-year old boy who lands rightin the midst of things. Jimmy Conway, the main character, is brave, loyal, & shows a strong sense of responsibility to his family while his father is away at war. Jimmy keeps a level head during several dangerous encounters as he journeys to his aunt's house across Dublin.

The book gives a wonderful sense of the people involved on both sides of this uprising, & presents the humanity of soldiers & loyalists on both sides.

I am now re-reading the book to my daughter's sixth grade classin America as they begin to study Europein the 20th century. We are learning about the lifestyle of that period from the eventsin the book -- the poverty & sickness, the crowded apartments, the trade unions, the numbers of Irish who fought for the British Armyin World War I so their families would get the separation allowance. At the same time we get a picture of Dublin as a city & how similar it is to Boston.

I recommend this book to young & old alike. It is a find book to read individually or as a class project.