Irish Tales for St. Patrick's Day

Fiona's Luck

by Teresa Bateman, Illustrated by Kelly Murphy

1st - 3rd Grades

Leprechauns have Ireland all to themselves and let their luck roam freely over the land. Humans come to Ireland and settle the fertile land. Prosperity abounds for the humans! The leprechaun king decides to hoard the leprechauns' luck so he sends leprechauns to gather up all the luck in Ireland while the humans sleep. The luck is gone and the humans cannot get their cows to produce milk, their chickens to lay eggs, nor the ground to grow potatoes. The people of Ireland believe they are out of luck. But they aren't completely out of luck because they have Fiona. She gets an idea to outwit the leprechaun king in a very clever way to try and get the leprechauns' luck back. A question to ponder after reading this story: Will luck or using your wits be more useful when solving problems? I liked this creative story with colorful illustrations and significant message so much I bought this book and donated it to the school library.

St. Patrick and the Three Brave Mice

by Joyce A. Stengel and Herb Leonhard

Read to K - 1st Grades

The legend of St. Patrick chasing all the snakes out of Ireland with his miraculous bell comes to life in this tale of three brave mice who help him rid Ireland of the last snake. The mice must courageously face great danger to help him! The Author's Note at the end of the book describes how this legend of St. Patrick is recognized in Ireland today.

Magic Treehouse, Leprechaun in Late Winter

by Mary Pope Osborne

2nd - 3rd Grades

Jack and Annie are on a mission from Merlin to help a girl named Augusta discover her special gift to give the world. They step out of their Magic Treehouse into an emerald green Ireland 150 years ago. They are dressed in poor clothes and seen as useless at the "Big House" because they don't know how to do farm work. (How many children today know how to milk a cow anyway?) Augusta takes Jack and Annie to her poor nursemaid, Mary, in her home in the forest. Mary tells a story of the Shee (irish fairies). Jack and Annie realize they are failing their mission to help Augusta but then a clever idea that includes a magical irish whistle and putting on a play gives them more help than they could ever imagine! Enjoy this captivating, magical story as the Shee and a leprechaun are discovered at a most timely manner for Jack, Annie and Augusta!

Tales of Old Ireland

by Malachy Doyle

4th - 6th Grades

Malachy Doyle has gathered a collection of irish tales that have been passed down from generation to generation in Ireland. The students were fascinated by the irish tale from this book called, The Twelve Wild Geese. There are other tales in the book as well but this was my favorite so I wanted to share it with them. This fourth to sixth grade level tale includes a fairy, magic, curses, kings and queens, a jealous, wicked step mother, and a bond of love between 12 brothers and their faithful sister that suffers tremendous adversity. I was delighted to hear students discussing the story amongst themselves afterward so I know this is a winning choice for them! I don't necessarily appreciate other tales in this book to read to children, but this one was wonderful in my opinion.

Happy Birthday Dr. Seuss!

Dr. Seuss was born on March 2, 1904. At Bella Vista Elementary, his birthday is celebrated annually in the classrooms, the cafeteria (Green Eggs and Ham served up hot and fresh for lunch on March 2) and the library.

The Boy on Fairfield Street

by Kathleen Krull, Illustrated by Lou Fancher and Steve Johnson

As a boy, Theodore Seuss Giesel, lived six blocks from the zoo. His father did some work at the zoo and shared wild animal stories with him. Ted also lived close to the library. His mother wanted him to be well educated so she took Ted to the library often. I loved learning from this book, The Boy on Fairfield Street, that when Dr. Seuss was young his mother lulled him to sleep every night by reading to him.

Dr. Seuss was voted "Least Likely to Succeed" by his college peers, took only one art class in his lifetime, where he was criticized for not following his teacher's rules of art, and dropped out of college to pursue his dream of writing poetry and drawing. Well, as we all know, he did succeed, he got paid for his art work and became one of the most famous children's book authors/illustrators in history!

After hearing the biography of Dr. Seuss, the students listened and read along to a Dr. Seuss book from our library's Seuss collection which includes Green Eggs and Ham, Fox in Socks, The Cat in the Hat, Hop on Pop, The Lorax and more. The students received "Happy Birthday Dr. Seuss" bookmarks and activity pages to take home. Look for characters from his books on the walls in and around the school library including, Horton, the Grinch, a Sneech with a star on its belly and others. A big thank you goes out to Mrs. Wilko, the Education Committee and PTA for providing the characters and biographical poster of Dr. Seuss.

Dr. Seuss wrote and illustrated 44 books. They are all still in print today. His first book was published in 1937, And To Think That I Saw It On Mulberry Street. His books are translated into 15 languages and over 200 million copies have been sold worldwide. He died in 1991 at the age of 87 but his legacy will live on for years to come.