Young Rebels by Morgan Llywelyn

 

 

 

St Enda's is no ordinary school, and Padraic Pearse is no ordinary headmaster.

His pupils are inspired by his vision of freedom and an Irish Republic, and John Joe and his friend Roger see the Easter Rising as their chance to fight for Ireland's freedom. But the two boys are horrified to learn that they are too young to take part.

They disobey orders to stay away from the city centre and quickly become caught up in the dramatic events of the Rebellion. Called to be brave and resourceful beyond their years, they witness events that change their lives forever.

Another dramatic blend of history and fiction from the inimitable Morgan Llywelyn

 

 

This was our second book set around the time of the 1916 rising and I think most of us enjoyed it. 7 out of 8 in the group realy liked it. I think as it is set in Rathfarnham in St Enda's and most of us have visited St Enda's it made the story come alive.

 

We compared to to "The Guns of Easter" by Gerard Wheelan.
The books have a lot in common- a boy is the main character in the book, they are both based around the 1916 rising but in "Young Rebels" John Joe knew what was going to happen in the rising, he wanted to be part of it and he was from quite a rich family who were able to send him to boarding school
 Jimmy in "Guns of Easter", didn't know what was going on when he stumbled accross the rising on his way to his aunt's house, he didn't really have a side and was quite friendly with the British soilders as well as the rebels, he was also very poor, he worried that his family couldn't pay a doctor for his sister who was sick and that his family didn't have enough food, so totally different stories in this way.

 

 

We also talked about the new  Children's Laureate  P.J Lynch and we watched a video about him, P.J has Illustrated over 20  children's books including "When Jessie Came accross The Sea" ,  "Once Upon a Place" and "The Boy who Fell off the Mayflower" and we had a look at some of them

 

As we were talking about illustrating covers of books I thought it would be fun to illustrate a cover for "Young rebels" and to draw scenes from the book.  Everyone's drawings came out so  well that I wanted to show everyone how they turned out!

 

 

Our next book is "Knights of the borrowed dark"  by Dave Rudden

 

 

At our next meeting on the 16th of June, Dave Rudden is going to come in and visit us to talk about his book so make sure to come in and pick up your copy in the library Ballyroan  Book Club!