Black Potatoes June 15 Meeting

"In 1845, disaster struck Ireland. Overnight, a mysterious blight attacked the potato crops turning the potatoes black and destroying the only real food of nearly six million people. Over the next five years, the blight attacked again and again. These years are known today as the Great Irish Famine, a time when one million people died from starvation and disease and two million more fled their homeland.

"Susan Campbell Bartoletti tells the compelling story of men, women and children who survived against all odds: they defied landlords and searched empty fields for scraps of harvested vegetables and edible weeds, walked several miles each day to hard-labor jobs earn meager wages and to reach soup kitchens, and committed crime just to go to jail where they were assured a meal. Black Potatoes is the story of the heroes among the Irish people and how they held on to hope." (from Black Potatoes back cover)

We Pig Skullers will discuss Black Potatoes at our Sunday, June 15 meeting.

The Pig Scrolls

"Behold Gryllus, a smarty-pants former crewman of the storied Odysseus, transformed by Circe into a swine--and perfectly content to stay that way. Until, that is, the pushy prophetess, Sibyl, informs Gryllus that the world's in grave danger--the gods have gone into hiding, terrifying monsters are on the loose, and all of creation is seriously out of whack. The only one who can save it is...a talking pig."

Author Paul Shipton has master's degrees in philosophy and classics. He says that working on The Pig Scrolls "...gave me a chance to revisit a world I have always loved--that of ancient mythology and history. And of course, in order to research the character of Gryllus fully, I was forced to eat a huge number of pies." We Pig Skullers will discuss The Pig Scrolls at our May 18 meeting.