Celebrating Holidays Through Literature - St. Patrick's Day 2019 • Capturing Parenthood

“Listen for the sound of the leprechaun – tap, tap, tap – as he cobbles his shoes. Perhaps if you find him, and if you are very nice to him…he will grant you a wish!”

– The Story of the Leprechaun by Katherine Tegen

Happy March! I don’t know about you guys, but we are looking forward to celebrating St. Patrick’s Day. And one of our favorite ways to celebrate holidays is through literature. We love reading holiday-themed books with our little nugget. It’s a great way for her to learn the history and meaning behind each holiday, and to discover the many different ways that people like to celebrate. With our book haul this month we’ve learned about leprechauns, rainbows, shamrocks, bagpipes, the Irish jig, and so much more!

And, as is often the case, our little nugget has repeatedly requested the reading of a select handful of our St. Patrick’s Day stories – so we decided to share these family favorites with you!

St. Patrick’s Day Books (2019)

Green Shamrocks by Eve Bunting
- It’s almost St. Patrick’s Day and Rabbit has decided to grow his very own shamrocks – that he plans to wear to the big St. Patrick’s Day parade. He finds a beautiful gold pot, fills it with dirt, and sows his shamrock seeds. After giving them lots of love and care, his shamrocks reach their peak just in time for the big day. But when Rabbit wakes up on St. Patrick’s Day morning, his pot of shamrocks is missing. Where could they be? He asks squirrel and woodchuck, but they don’t have his shamrocks. Will he be able to track them down in time for the parade? You’ll just have to snag a copy of this cute story to find out!
The Story of the Leprechaun by Katherine Tegen
- There is always one story in our list of favorites that our daughter adores more than all of the others, and when it comes to our St. Patrick’s Day books, this is it! Our little nugget immediately fell in love with the little leprechaun who lives by the steam and makes shoes for the local villagers and woodland fairies. Everyone pays him in gold (of course). His shoes are in such high demand, that it doesn’t take long before his pot of gold is overflowing…catching the eye of a greedy man who has come by for a new pair of shoes. The man traps the leprechaun and demands his pot of gold. But as we all know, leprechauns are incredibly clever…and when push came to shove, the greedy man was left empty-handed.
Ten Lucky Leprechauns by Kathryn Heling & Deborah Hembrook
- This silly rhyming story will have your kiddos counting from one to ten, over and over again. Meet a new leprechaun with each turn of the page – until all ten find a big pot of gold where the rainbow ends. “But fiddle-de-fizz, the true magic is…finding ten lucky leprechaun friends!”
Lucky Tucker by Leslie McGuirk
- Tucker the terrier’s St. Patrick’s Day is off to a horrible start – he went out in the pouring rain before breakfast, his favorite toy is stuck under the couch, and a black cat hissed at him. Tucker wants his luck to change, so he decides to roll around in a bed of clovers. He didn’t realize that he was being watched by a leprechaun…who then deemed him the luckiest dog around. And boy was the leprechaun right. Tucker caught a scoop of falling ice cream, found his best friends at the dog park, was treated to homemade dog biscuits from the bakery, and received a big box of St. Patrick’s Day goodies in the mail. And to top it all off, he got to skip bath time. It really was Tucker’s luckiest day ever!
Clever Tom and the Leprechaun by Linda Shute
- When Tom Fitzpatrick meets a leprechaun, he thinks his day is made. Tom’s a clever fellow, so he knows that if he breaks eye contact with the leprechaun, the leprechaun will escape. And so he makes sure not to fall for any of the leprechaun’s distracting tricks. When the opportunity presents itself, Tom grabs the wee elf and demands to know the hiding place of the leprechaun’s gold. The leprechaun, acknowledging Tom’s cleverness, leads him to the secret spot in a great field of weeds. But it seems that clever Tom has forgot one important thing…a shovel. He secures a red ribbon onto a weed to mark the exact spot, and takes off to find a shovel. When he returns, every weed in the entire field is adorned with a red ribbon. 🙂
It’s St. Patrick’s Day! by Rebecca Gomez
- This Level 1 Scholastic Reader introduces children to all things St. Patrick’s Day – from dressing in green and finding four-leaf clovers…to dancing Irish jigs, making Irish stew, and listening to the drums and bagpipes in the St. Patrick’s Day parade!
That’s What Leprechauns Do by Eve Bunting
- Meet Ari, Boo, and Col – three leprechauns who have the responsibility of digging up a pot of gold and placing it at the end of the rainbow. Once the pot of gold is placed, they sit and wait for that lucky someone to come along and find it. In all of their years, no one has found the pot gold, but somebody will someday – of that Ari is certain. In the meantime, the leprechauns will do what leprechauns do best…make mischief! They just cannot resist painting the hooves of Mrs. Ballybunion’s cow, or tying Old Jamie Bradley’s drying trousers in a knot. But their favorite bit of mischief on that particular day was placing a yellow rubber ball under Miss Maud Murphy’s hen, and trying to pass it off as an egg.
The Leprechaun Who Lost His Rainbow by Sean Callahan
- This color-filled story has been another fan-favorite in our house! When Roy G. Biv pays young Colleen a visit, on a gloomy St. Patrick’s Day morning, he’s in a tight spot and needs her help. He’s lost his rainbow, and as a result, he’s also lost his pot of gold. Colleen places items of various colors into the leprechaun’s hat and a rainbow appears – well an almost-rainbow. One color is missing, and according to the leprechaun, it can only be created by using Colleen’s prized penny whistle (a gift from her grandfather). Will Colleen part with her most treasured possession in order to help Roy G. Biv…and save the St. Patrick’s Day parade at the same time? You’ll have to pick up a copy to find out!

If you are looking for a few more fun St. Patrick’s Day books to read with your kiddos this month, make sure to check out our list of favorites from last year too!