Katrina's+page

__﻿ E-Journal﻿ __
E-Journal Entry #1 January 26, 2011 Chapters 1-5 Pages 1-38 When I was choosing my top three books this book was not one of them, but I thought it sounded interesting. As I started reading, I began to think that it did not have as much action as I once thought. I hope that it will begin to become more exciting as I continue to read. In the book, 14-year-old Kathleen/Kit lives in a small cottage with her Mam, Da, her younger brother Jack and her little sister Annie. At the beginning of the book, Kit’s Da is leaving for England to find work. 91. After he leaves, Kit goes to work at the "Big House" a.k.a their Landlord’s house. I was surprised when I found out that Kit’s Mam was expecting. Because of that Kit has to weed the potato bed so her Mam didn’t have to. Also, I like the way the author made Jack work for Lizzie Plunkett, an "ancient", crazy, "evil" woman who lives in an old, broken-down cottage on a hill. So far I think that this is an OK book, but I think it will get better. 187

E-Journal Entry #2 Feb 3, 2011
Chapters 6-15 Pages 39-98 In chapters 6-8 not much happened. But in chapter nine the blight came. Kit's family lost two thirds of their potato crop and many others lost it all. The day after it came Kit lost her job at the big house. There is no sign of Da's wages from England. Then their neighbour gets the fever and a couple days later the same neighbour loses a son. Kit's family finally recieves wages from Da and they get a letter from him. I think this book is starting to get really interesting and I think that it will get even better as it continues. I felt sad when their nieghbour died especially because he was the only one in that family making money. I think the relationship between Kit and her neighbour Mick O'Toole is interesting because Mick likes Kit but Kit doesn't really seem interested in Mick. I think their relationship will continue to change and develope as the book goes on. 190

E-Journal Entry #3 February 9, 2011
Chapters 16-23 <span style="color: #005c00; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">Pages 99-149 <span style="color: #2e993a; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">Kit meets someone she has a crush on and she gets kissed by him. Then, her mom goes into labour, three months early! When Kit's baby brother is born he dies in her arms. I almost cried when reading this part! Then, Kit finds out that Mam has the fever. A couple weeks later Mam is over the worst of it and Da comes home! It's a good thing he came home because Kit was wasting away looking after Mam. After a while, the O'Tooles get evicted and are forced to go to the Workhouse, an emormous building, crawling with diseases, for homeless people all except for Mick, who goes to live with crazy Lizzie. He and Da start working on a project the government set up called the Roadworks to give people a chance to get paid. But, after over 2 weeks, neither of them have gotten paid and they are working themselves to death. It seems like everything that Da tries to do for money ends up not turning out like it should and that Da never gets paid. I'm beginning to think that Da is going to die, and if he does I'm sure I'm going to cry. <span style="color: #2e993a; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 60%;">203

<span style="color: #005c00; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">E-Journal Entry #4 February 14, 2011 <span style="color: #005c00; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">Chapters 24-32 <span style="color: #005c00; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">Pages 151-210 <span style="color: #2e993a; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">DA'S DEAD! He worked himself to death at the Roadworks! I knew it was going to happen! Also, Mam died in a way too. She's never herself again. She never remembers Da dying and she always thinks he's in England. Kit and her family just isolate themselves and they don't eat or anything. They just sit around and sleep. But, Lizzie comes and gets Kit to start working to keep her and her family alive. Kit and Jack sneak into their landlord's potato fields and try to find some potatoes to seed, but Kit gets caught and sent to jail for three weeks. I can't imagine going to jail. It would be so awful. No one you know or love. No one to comfort you. Everything around you would seem so strange and horrifying. I would probably just sit in the corner and cry. While in jail, she comes up with a scheem to get rid of Lynch, thinking that it would solve of of her family's problems. When she gets out of jail, Mam doesn't remember anything. She's "Away" as the book says. She seems like a child. I think it's so cruel that Mam is there, yet she isn't. I noticed that I only have 10 chapters left in the book and nothing seems to be getting better. But Kit's family made it through the worst of the winter and Mick saved up enough money to buy his family and him passage to America. 258

<span style="color: #005c00; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">E-Journal Entry #5 February 16, 2011 <span style="color: #005c00; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">Chapters 33-42 <span style="color: #005c00; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">Pages 211-267 <span style="color: #2e993a; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">Kit takes a "potion" from Lizzie that is deadly if you drink to much and goes to the "Big House". When she gets there she sneaks in and finds Lynch with a stroke. She accidentally spills the "potion" and she almost gets caught by Lynch's sons. Lynch loses his speech so he can't tell anyone about Kit, for now anyway. Lynch finds the bottle from the "potion" and knows that it is Lizzie's. Kit and what's left of her family got evicted and the boy that kissed Kit help the other men burn her house down. Kit and her family are going to travel to Canada, but first they have to walk for almost 70 miles to get to a ship and Mam and Kit's younger sister Annie are to weak for that. I don't know what they are going to do. Things seem to be getting a bit better. On the way to New Ross, which is where the ships are, they meet a family with a wagon and they get a ride. <span style="color: #2e993a; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">Kit's family leaving for Canada! They have tickets and they are all ready to go. The Lynch brothers found her! She's going to get caught, I just know it! She crawled into a trunk that she thought was luggage, but it wasn't, and so she got separated from her family and the boat left without her. And the Lynch brothers left too. I don't know what she's going to do! Mick found Kit! Mick bought passage to Canada for Kit, and he is going to work on the ship for his passage to Canada. Kit cuts her hair and finds guy clothes in the trunk and dresses up as a boy so that the Lynch brothers won't find her. When the Lynch brothers come back they don't find Kit. Kit is FREE. I wonder if Kit finds her family. I wonder if Kit and Mick's relationship developes more as they get older. <span style="color: #2e993a; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 60%;">326