Free Jamie ORourke And The Pooka Written By Tomie DePaola Offered As Text

story about an ungrateful and lazy husband named Jamie, This book displays themes of trickery, laziness and hard work, My favorite part was when Jamie gave the pooka a coat, only to have pooka leave and never clean up for Jaime again, I would use this book to show kids how it's better to work hard rather than to be lazy, I am a big Tomie DePaola fan, but didnt love this, I might like it better if I read it to children instead of just myself, It bothered me that Jamie didnt learn anything, When Jamie O'Rourke's wife leaves him alone for a week, it's up to Jamie to do the housework, But Jamie isn't just the laziest man in Ireland, he's also the messiest! When a magical pooka arrives unexpectedly and starts to do the dishes and sweep the house, Jamie thinks that maybe he's the luckiest man in Ireland as well.
But will Jamie's good fortuneand his pooka's housekeepinglast Young readers will be giggling through Tomie dePaola's delightfully funny sequel to Jamie O'Rourke and the Big Potato,

"DePaola's jaunty storytelling pace and his snappy Irish phrases give this tale extra sparkle, " Publishers Weekly, starred review Jamie O'Rourke's charming laziness and dePaola's charming illustrations don't altogether make this story unterrifying, An animal spirit that comes into your house at night And kind of looks demonic The note at the end saying that the most famous Pooka is, of course, Jimmy Stewart's friend Harvey.
But isn't Harvey quietly terrifying as well Lazy man can't/won't cook/clean for himself, Pooka keeps doing so for him and when prompted, explains it's because he was once a lazy man who put work onto others and this is his punishment.


You might be hoping the lesson is that Jamie learns to NOT BE LIKE THAT ANYMORE and pull a Scrooge: learn his lesson from another's pain and be better.
Instead you get a Dobby situation where the Pooka is compensated in crumbs for all his work and is freed and won't do the last bit of work.
Jamie's annoyed and his wife is madder and Jamie learned nothing,

You can see a few things about this story that are dissappointing and don't age well, While his wife is away, a lazy man relies on a pooka to clean up the messes that he and his friends make, The pooka had once been a lazy servant who was “sentenced” to cleaning up after others until someone was so appreciative that they rewarded him, . . then he could quit. I'm thinkin' Jamie is the ungrateful one, What a great tale for St, Patrick's Day. My firstgrade class laughed aloud This Irish folktale accompanied our study of the selkie, My firstgrader had a little bit of hard time understanding how the Pooka tricked Jamie at the end, but I think she understood it after I explained it to her.
The text used Irish turns of phrase "give us a kiss and be off with you" and I couldn't help but try to emulate an Irish accent when I read it aloud.
Loved getting a chance to read aloud with an Irish accent, The appearance of the Pooka was quite alarming we're rolling along in this cute picture book and then this yelloweyed scary creature appears! I'm interested in seeing how kids perceive drinking in books.
I don't seem to recall drinking/getting drunk ever registering positively or negatively in my brain when I encountered it in books I read, even when the Redwall mice drank heavily.
But I don't know if that's because I never saw my parents drink other than a very occasional glass of wine until I was an adult except my dad's Christmas Eve Grand Marnier.


That said, whenever a book refers to drinking or alcohol, I notice some of my students shift uncomfortably, A few of them have written essays about the perils of drinking, totally unprompted by me, So I wonder what their response would be to Jamie O'Rourke getting blasted every night and having a Pooka come by and pick up the pieces of his life.
Would they be pleased by the ending, where the Pooka tricks Jamie and he winds up screwed at the end Or would they be miffed that Jamie is making such a mess Or wouldn't it register because it's a folk tale rather than a piece of realistic fiction When Jamie O'Rourke's wife, Eileen, goes to her sisters for a week, Jamie plans nothing more than sleeping and eatingso as not to have to do any more than necessary.
When Jamie's cronies show up with a jug of cider, he and his pals have a grand old time eating, drinking and making a fine mess, That night, to Jamie's wonderment, a pooka enters the cottage and cleans it from top to bottom, With the pooka returning each night, Jamie and his pals get messier and messier till one night, Jamie plucks up enough courage to ask the creature why he's cleaning the house.
The pooka explains that he was once the laziest servant that was ever clothed and fed and that when his time for the other world came, his punishment was to roam the land cleaning after others.
Jamie, taking pity on the creature, decides to offer him his coat for his troubleslittle realizing that by offering the coat, he would be freeing the pookawho true to the mischievous reputation they shareleaves Jamie on the last night with the biggest mess of alljust in time for Eileen's return home.
Unrepentant Jamie pouts and fumes about the ungrateful pooka as the story ends,

This story offered a fun way to introduce students to various creatures from Irish folklore, Most have heard of fairies and giants and leprechauns but few have heard of pookas and selkies and such, The ending of the story offers a good chance to allow the students to project ahead and predict what might happen if Jamie doesn't change his lazy, lying ways.
Might he eventually become a pooka Hmmm, Amusing Irish tale of Jamie O'Rourke, the laziest man in the village and his inability to keep things under control, In this story, his wife goes to visit her sister for a week, She leaves him food and a clean house, She warns him to take care of the house and not let anybody in, Jamie doesn't listen and brings his buddies in for parties, An animal named a Pooka also gets in and cleans up after all his parties, the house is still clean, But eventually Jamie kicks the Pooka out when he catches him, Hmmmm What will his wife know DePaola captures the wit and humor of Irish storytelling wonderfully in this book,

Jamie ORourke shows us that taking the lazy way out is more trouble than its worth,

A spring read we come back to every March,

Highly recommended forand up, Must be read in your best Irish accent, I like Jamie O'Rourke and the Big Potato better, but kids like Tomie dePaola's stories regardless of my opinion! Summary: Jamie must keep the house while his wife is away.


Why I Read This: RAR's March Books,

: It was fine, Not my favorite from Tomie de Paola, but solid, Anything with Ireland and pooka together will be a sure winner for me and this book was no exception, It was a delight.

I am huge fan of the film/play Harvey which I got to rewatch on Christmas, Always always a delight !

It may be a few years before I get to introduce my kids to the movie Harvey or Farscapem which also has a "Harvey" in it, but that's a different matter but a Tomie dePaola book is the next best thing! I never thought Id rate a Tomie DePaola book one star but my sons and I both loathed this one

No redemption, no just deserts, no satisfying ending, nothing.
Ugh. We were sorely disappointed Jamie O'Rourke, if you'll remember, is the laziest man in all of Ireland, Well, one time, his wife needs to go away for a week, and ole Jamie is left to fend for himself, And, so it happens that his equally lazy, nogood friends come over to celebrate EVERY SINGLE NIGHT, You can imagine the state of the house! But, every night after Jamie goes to bed, the Pooka looks like a donkey, stands like a man comes, and cleans up the mess.
Jamie should probably reward hims for his service, don't you think

Uh, huh,

Big mistake


I get a kick out of Jamie O'Rourke, but I'm glad I'm not married to him! So my daughter thought the woman in the story was the man's mother rather than his wife, probably because he appeared incapable of cooking for himself or cleaning up anything, and, as far as my daughter knows, grownups do that for themselves.
The feel to this one is a bit random, for lack of a better descriptor, It seemed to be going somewhere in terms of a moral, took a detour, and then just ended, A lazy man who won't clean up after himself is lucky enough to have a pooka do it for him, and when the man finally does one unselfish act for the first time in the story, the consequence is that he's punished for it.


An adult can appreciate and chuckle over the irony, but I'm not sure that children will take away anything positive from the story, I don't want my children's fiction to be overly didactic, but I do like it when it conveys a general sense of the value of virtue, This is not one I will choose to reread to my child, I really liked this one,
laughed when the Pooka left, All I can say is, read it first so you have an idea how to converse with your child about it, And btw, "cronies" is indeed the better word, rather than "friends, " Another favorite for St. Paddy's Day! If you have any fondness for the movie Harvey, this book is likely to induce feelings of outrage,

Jamie O'Rourke, "the laziest man in all of Ireland," encounters a pooka when his wife travels to see her sister, Unlike the lovable rabbit of the James Stewart film, this pooka seems to be a cross between a rabbit and a donkey, with something vaguely demonic about the eyes.
The pictures of the pooka himself might be offputting to children they certainly were to me,

I would be interested to discuss this text with a particular young moralist of my acquaintance, to see whether he believes Jamie got what he deserved, or whether the pooka did him wrong.
While I would hope to find other Irish tales for children, this book could certainly be used to start interesting debates, Ill stick with the Jimmy Stewart movie myself, though,
Once again, lazy Jamie doesn't change his ways although he IS kind to the Pooka, And then he pouts at the end, Not one to be read to the very young, as they will only pick up on the wrong things, Was expecting more due to my affinity for Celtic folklore, Did not live up to expectations, Characters stale, pooka was lame, and am personally not fond of stories where the protoganist fails to walk away with any character development, My toddler did ask me to read it multiple times, Always happy to add to my collection of Irish folk tales especially those that can be shared with youngsters for St, Patrick's Day! Feels like a classic story, Enjoyed the author's note about the Pooka, This is a story that I think children and adults can definitely enjoy together, The story is enjoyable and I couldn't help picking up a fake Irish accent to accompany the story, The way it's written you almost can't avoid it!

The story is about the lazy Jamie O'Rourke while his loving, caring, housekeeping wife is away, She leaves him with very simple instructions on how to keep the house while she's gone without leaving him terribly much work to do, He figures he's got it covered, and she's off,

When his wife leaves, Jamie's friends come over with a jug of cider and have a grand old time, Of course, this also means they make a grand old mess, Jamie, being the lazy man he is, should have cleaned it all up, but he neglects to do so, figuring he'd do it all in the morning,

Well, wouldn't you know it The laziest man in the world gets a blessing put on him, A creature comes in that very night and cleans the whole house, top to bottom, making sure there isn't any mess to be seen! Imagine how Jamie must have felt, knowing all that work that waited for him was now done and over with.


The next day Jamie's friends are back and he tells them about the hard work he did, claiming the creatures efforts as his own, They determine to come back every night in his wife's absence, since it should be no big deal to have their fun while she's away, They drink and party the night away,

That night and each to follow until the one before the last they boys party by day and the creature cleans by night, This is a wonderful arrangement, but Jamie feels he must confront the creature to find out what he can do to thank it for it's service,

This is when the truth comes out, This creature is a pooka, and he was once a very lazy man, When it came time for him to pass over to the other world, he was cursed and turned into a pooka, destined to work for someone else every night to repay the debt of his laziness.


All the cues are there for Jamie to make the right decision, Will he learn his lesson Will he stop being so lazy to spare himself the same fate as the pooka

This story made a wonderful discussion topic for my family.
It brought up a lot of great subjects, The actions of the pooka can introduce the concept of fairy tricks to teach their lesson, The story of the pooka can also give you an idea of what's in store for Jamie if he doesn't clean up his act, Can the kids figure it out What is the lesson here I was surprised how many adults seem confused when my family seems to get it so clearly.
When you're gifted with a blessing of any kind, always look at it closely, What can you learn from that blessing Another subject I think seems to be overlooked, the story doesn't really have an obvious moral, It's not so cut and dry as "do good and you'll regret it later", There's a very strong message with the pooka of "do good now or you're going to be made to suffer for it later, " There's also a great mental development point of "what comes next, " Okay, so you've seen Jamie's story so far, What do you think is going to happen in the end Did he learn anything from the pooka Was the pooka trying to help with the work to be nice Or was the pooka also trying to teach Jamie something in the process

It's a wonderful story and I think we're going to keep this one around for quite some time.
The moral of the story though a little hidden is a lot of fun, The concept of "do good now or you'll regret it later" in the area of cleaning is especially fitting for kids, Sure, they've got me in the role of the wife, for now, but what happens when they're grown and on their own, Who will clean for them then True, they probably won't turn into pookas if they don't, but they'll be stuck living in a dirty, stinky house that no one will ever want to visit.
If they learn good habits now, it will save them hardship later, .