Jamie O'Rourke and the Big Potato

Jamie O'Rourke and the Big Potato

Traditional Irish Folktale retold and illustrated by Tomie de Paole 

Grade Level: 2-3

Genre: Traditional Literature 

Awards: none

Summary: This book tells the story of a lazy Irish man.  After his wife is no longer able to take care of the two of them, Jamie had to start doing something to provide food for the two of them.  Jamie runs into a leprechaun and attempts to take his gold.  The leprechaun outsmarts him and trades him a seed to grow the largest potato.  Jamie agrees and takes the seed.  Soon enough, the potato grew and grew.  The potato got so large, the townspeople had to help Jamie dig up the potato.  After being uprooted, the potato rolled into the town, blocking the city gate.  The town had to do something in order to have visitors come and go from their town.  Jamie told the townspeople to take as much potato as they needed to last them the winter.  The townspeople did so and each had enough potato to last the entire winter.  By the end of winter, the townspeople were tired of eating potato.  The townspeople then agreed to provide food for Jamie and his wife if he never planted another potato again. 

Evaluation: This was a very cute story.  I honestly do not see myself using this book in my classroom because I am worried my middle school students would get the wrong idea.  I do not want to encourage laziness (haha!).  It really is a cute story though.  I just do not see myself using it.

This book's readability is suited for second through third grade.  I would not go any lower than second grade due to the fact that there is quite a bit of writing on each page.  I think younger students might be a little overwhelmed with so many words on the page.

You could use this book to teach a lesson on laziness.  Even though the story seems to encourage a lazy lifestyle, you could still use it to show how a lazy lifestyle is not healthy.