Jamie O’Rourke and the Big Potato by Tomie DePaola

This book is one of my Traditional or Folk literature books.

This book is about an Irish man that is the laziest man in all of Ireland. Jamie is so lazy that his wife has to do all the farming just so his family can have food for the winter. Well one day his wife gets sick and he has to do all the farming. He decides that he needs to co and make a confession, while on his way he encounters a leprechaun and tries to get the pot of gold from the leprechaun. The Leprechaun out smarts Jamie and gives him a potato seed that will grow the biggest potato ever and all Jamie has to do is plant it and wait. Jamie takes the seed thinking he has made the best choice. When he returns home his wife tells him he made a horrible choice. Jamie planted the seed and waited. As the potato grew, it grew so big it lifted the house. Jamie tried and tried to get the potato out of the ground. When he finally got it out, it rolled down the hill and got stuff in the road between the wall and blocked the town. The towns people had not idea what to do. After a little while they all decided to work together and cut the potato into pieces and give everyone some of the potato. By the town working together they were able to save their problem and have enough food for everyone for the winter. I would use this book to teacher my students about team work and how if you work together you can succeed better than if you are all fighting with each other.