Put your thinking caps on…I have a little quiz for you-all
called "Guess My Nationality." Here are the clues:
1. My last name is Brennan
2. My mother --- Kathleen Bridget O'Daly Brennan --- is one of ten children.
3. I cannot remember a meal from my childhood that did not involve potatoes.
4. When I was living at home, the Brennan clan would go to church together
every single Sunday…or face a lifetime of guilt from my mother.
5. My parents would fly me home from college (they lived in NY, I went to
school in Chicago) to celebrate March 17th with the family.
If you guessed Portugese, you're absolutely right. Ho, ho! Just a little
Irish craic for you. (FYI: "craic" is Irish for fun…so don't go telling your
parents I'm a druggie or something.) Shock of all shocks, I'm a bona fide
Irish lassie. A pure breed. 100%! (Well, actually 99.5%, but I choose to
forget that little French floozy who seduced my great, great, great
grandfather.)
Because of my impressive Irish heritage, I demanded that the Teenreads.com
St. Patrick's Day celebration be put in my charge. The books I have
rounded-up for you all --- all written by Irish and Irish-Americans --- are
really excellent. I'm not talking teeny-bopper stuff here, either. These
books are smart and funny and sad and profound --- kind of like the Irish
themselves. But before we get to all the book-goodness, here are some little
known facts about Ireland:
1. Corned Beef --- the food most Americans associate with traditional Irish
cuisine --- does not actually exist in Ireland. Well, it kind of does, but
there it is sliced like deli meat and is known as pastrami.
2. Although the Irish are reputed to be the biggest drinkers on the planet
Earth, in reality Ireland has the lowest per capita consumption of alcohol of
any European Union country (with the exception of Greece and Italy).
3. Not everyone in Ireland is Catholic (just 99% of the population). Nor does
everyone in Ireland hate the English (just 99% of the population --- I'm
kidding about this…sort of).
4. Despite being one of the greenest places on earth, there aren't really any
trees in Ireland.
5. The boys in Ireland are not nearly as cute as Irish-American fellas (trust
me, I've spent enough time in both countries to know).
And now our reviews of the best St. Pat's Day books, courtesy of
Teenreads.com's resident leprechaun…
