Nory Ryan's Song Internet Hunt by Cindy O'Hora
Based on the novel by Patricia Reilly Giff

Directions: Bookmark the hunt page. Use the links (green underlined words) provided to find the answers to the questions. Use the bookmark to return to the hunt. Note: Several links in this project take you to web servers (computers) in Ireland. That may mean the pages load a bit slowly. Be patient! If a link does not work, use your internet research skills to find the answer.

1. Nory Ryan loses Anna's coin into St. Patrick's Well.
Where in Ireland must you travel to in order to see the well?

What else might you see there?

2. Nory Ryan helps Anna collect a plant called nettles.
Why would Anna want to collect nettles?

View a nettles plant.

3. Throughout the story Nory Ryan is worried about the sidhe. According to this resource, what are the sidhe?

Search Encyclopedia Mythica for the answers.

Why should she have not worried about them?

4. Nory Ryan gathers limpets to eat. What are they?

Have you ever eaten limpets?

Why are they easy to catch?

5. Locate the map of Ireland in the World Factbook . Use clues in the story to answer the following questions.

In what body of water did the father probably fish?

What islands did Maggie pass on the ship when she embarked on her journey to Brooklyn?

6. Lord Cunningham demands the Mallons' currach to pay the rent. Describe a currach. (Look it up)

7. Nory Ryan makes due for many weeks on the eggs of gannets.
How are the birds impacted by the presence of people?

8. Read this report by a student in Ireland. How long has the gannetry been located off the coast of Kerry?

9. Here are some photos of thatched roof cottages in Ireland.
Contrast it with your home. What are three differences?

10. How many people died during The Great Irish Famine?

Write two other important facts about the famine.

11. Ms. Giff's once said the formula for writing was straight forward.

"Create a person, put that person in a place, and present a problem.
Then make the protagonist talk, move and worry about the problem
until it gets worse and worse, and then end the story when the problem is solved."

Name a story or two, that you have read, which sounds like her plan.

12. What kind of microbe (bacteria, fungus, virus) causes potato blight?

How is it spread?

How can farmers control it today?

13. What percentage of the people in Nory's county were living in low class housing at the time of the famine?

14. What impact did the Great Famine have on Ireland?

TAI (Think About It) What impact did the Great Famine in Ireland have on the U.S.A.?

Done Already?

Make a GoogleLit Trip about the story.

Go n-eírí an bóthar leat.
May the road rise with you.