So Far from Home: The Diary of Mary Driscoll, an Irish Mill Girl, Lowell, Massachusetts, 1847: By Barry Denenberg

This story is a fictional diary from the viewpoint of Mary Driscoll.  It follows her from Ireland to America and then shows the hardships she went through once arriving.  She has to work in a factory under terrible conditions and longs for her family she left back in Ireland.  

 I am not sure if I would use this book in my classroom because it is definitely more appropriate for around 5th or 6th grade, I do think this is a very good book for young readers.  It has a lot of historical accuracies built into the story.  It also depicts hardship that while readers today may not relate to them specifically, it shows hardships that are often not depicted in other youth historical fiction books.  This specific book talks a lot about living in Ireland during the 1840s.  This would pair well with a history class, or with a writing assignment if students were having to keep their own sort of a diary.