The Easter Rising 1916 - Molly's Diary

Hands On History

by Patricia Murphy

Easter 1916. The Great War rages in Europe with two hundred thousand Irishmen fighting in the British Army. But a small group of Irish nationalists refuse to fight for Britain and strike a blow for Irish freedom. Caught up in the action in Dublin, is twelve-year-old Molly O’Donovan.

Her own family is plunged into danger on both sides of the conflict. Her father, a technical officer with the Post Office dodges the crossfire as he tries to restore the telegraph lines while her wayward brother runs messages for the rebels. Molly a trained First Aider, risks her own safety to help the wounded on both sides.

As violence and looting erupts in the streets of Dublin alongside heroism and high ideals, Molly records it all. The Proclamation at the GPO, the battle of Mount Street, the arrival of the British Troops. But will Molly’s own family survive and will she be able to save her brother?

This is her diary.

Genres: Historical Fiction

295 pages, Paperback

First published March 26, 2014

About the author

Patricia Murphy is an award-winning children's author and a Producer/Director of documentaries for British television.
Her most recent publication is "The Easter Rising 1916 - Molly's Diary", the first book in a planned trilogy.

Her previous Celtic fantasy trilogy for children "The Chingles" won a Poolbeg/RTE award.

Patricia is also a multi award-winning Producer/Director of critically acclaimed and groundbreaking documentaries. These include RTS winner "Children of Helen House" for BBC 2, the highly rated series on the pioneering children's hospice in Oxford. She created and filmed the launch programmes for "Born to Be Different" the innovative prize-winning Channel 4 series following six babies born with disabilities in the 21st century.
Other films include the controversial "Behind the Crime" series for Channel 4 where criminals revealed how and why they committed their crimes, "Raised by The State" on growing up in care for BBC 2 and "Newbury Blues" on the Newbury By-pass protests. Her debut documentary "Caravan Kids" on New Age Travelers and the Criminal Justice Act was nominated for an RTS. Patricia has also worked on popular series such as "Worst Jobs in History" and "TV Dinners".

Reviews

[Margaret Madden · Rating 5 out of 5]

Review by Mia Madden, aged 11.

This book is part of The Hands on History series from Poolbeg. It's about a twelve year old girl called Molly, who writes everything down about the Easter Rising in 1916 (when the Irish fought to get their country back from England) which is happening around her.

Her father is the Chief Technical Officer at the General Post Office (GPO), who is in charge of the telegraph lines. Her sixteen year old brother, Jack, is secretly a Fianna boy scout led my Countess Markievicz and is working for rebel leaders Pádraig Pearse, Tom Clarke, Séan Mc Diarmuida, James Connolly and Joseph Plunkett. Suddenly Jack disappears and Molly thinks it is her duty to find him, as her mother is in Belfast and her father is repairing the telegraph lines. Running around the city of Dublin, looking for Jack, Molly gets caught up in many big events as she's a first-aider. Because of this, she travels to many hide-outs of both the rebels and British troops, as she is healing them. But will she find her brother?

I enjoyed this book, but it took me a while to get into it because I am used to reading normal fiction and fantasy books. It was great for me to read about things that I don't know about. It was a convenient read, for another reason aswell; next year is the 100th anniversary of The Easter rising! My school is going to use this book as a novel for sixth class in September, also for that reason.

I recommend this book for history lovers age 10+.

[Mary · Rating 5 out of 5]

Actually a very decent telling of the Rising from a fictional character. It even helped me straighten out all the units involved.

[Lauren · Rating 3 out of 5]

I got this book when it was released after seeing it on the late late toy show, as I was a little history FNATIC at the time I ate it up.

After re reading it 9 years later, I still relatively enjoyed it.

I feel if you don’t know the events of what occurred on 1916 this book will give you an over head view of what occurred but it definitely wouldn’t help you for a paper (it’s a kids book after all)

However, if you do have a young child and would like to get them into Irish history this book would be a tremendous start due to the simple language! It also brings up a lot of historical figures names too which you can quiz your child about! Or even tell them a fact or two.

[Evan · Rating 2 out of 5]

using the GR rating system for this one: it was ok.

things i didn't like that isn't specifically related to the fact that this is written for kIDS:
- requires a lot of knowledge about dublin street names. could have been easily avoided if anyone had read over it.
- kind of boring, don't see how this could interest kids tbh
- it's written in first person
- chapters are l o n g
- kind of boring
i also really hate just how convenient everything is. and all the medical injuries are really really graphic

[Grace Cox · Rating 2 out of 5]

It pains me to give this book only 2 stars and that is being kind. I do think there is a good story in this book about the Easter Rising, people dying, the city on fire, while 12 year old Molly tries to survive the chaos as she tries to find her brother. However the book was just so badly written, repetitious and boring that I couldn't enjoy it however hard I tried.

[Saoirse McGough · Rating 4 out of 5]

I like it but it was not my favourite book. It was a bit boring at some stages. I much prefer Leo's war.