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With a little luck, these Irish books can be fun

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There's a saying that everyone is Irish on St. Patrick's Day. With a little luck, you can discover new books to expose your children to the wonderful traditions and the rich legacy of folklore of the Irish people this holiday.

“Too Many Leprechauns,” written by Stephen Krensky and illustrated by Dan Andreasen, is the story of how an Irish fellow tricked the leprechauns so his mother could get some sleep and cook him some soda bread. Of course, the gold ends up at the end of a rainbow.

You can make rainbow cookies with your children. Divide some sugar cookie dough in quarters and add food coloring to each clump, making each a different color for your rainbows. Take a teaspoon of each color and roll it into a cylinder shape. Press the cylinders together and shape into a rainbow. Bake as usual.

“The St. Patrick's Day Shillelagh” is a story about a story. Written by Janet Nolan and illustrated by Ben F. Stahl, this book is about a family story being passed down from generation to generation, taking a family from the potato famine in Ireland in the mid 1800s to today.

You might want to take this opportunity to tell your children the stories you remember from your family. You can make the occasion special by cooking a dish your ancestors might have enjoyed in their old country. You can share pictures or perhaps you have something passed down in your family the way they did in the book.

“A Pot O' Gold” is full of poetry, stories, customs and a few recipes celebrating Ireland and the Irish traditions, collected and adapted by Kathleen Krull. The delightful illustrations are by David McPhail.

Try having a green day with green clothes, a green tablecloth and napkins and green streamers. Then gather around this book and let each person choose a story to read.

You can make a leprechaun puppet with a toilet paper roll. Just cut pieces from construction paper and glue them on - a circle for his face, a green vest and hat and black boots. Your small children will enjoy having several to play with during a story. You can use the recipes in the book to make soda bread or marshmallow crackers.

“Artemis Fowl” by Eoin Colfer, while not a traditional Irish story, engages the older reader in a tale about a boy trying to outwit the fairies in the LEPrecon Unit and steal their gold. Artemis becomes a more sympathetic character as the story progresses and finds that there are more important treasures than gold. This is a popular adventure story that includes the “little people.” This makes a great morality tale for the maturing child to open discussions about right and wrong and motivation.

May you enjoy an Irish blessing this holiday. May the wind be always at your back, may the rain fall softly upon your fields, and may your children's children always have kind things to say about their grandparents!

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