The Story of the Leprechaun

K-Gr 2—A leprechaun is a busy shoemaker for humans and fairies alike. When his profits cause his pot of gold to overflow, he buries it for safekeeping, but not before a greedy human spies it. Aware that catching a leprechaun means being granted three wishes, Tim grabs him and demands first to know the location of the gold and then to be given 100 pairs of shoes. His final wish is to have three more wishes, but the leprechaun says it is "a greedy trick" that "cannot be granted." When he shows Tim the spot where the gold is buried, the young man marks it with a shoe on top of a long, upright stick. Tim returns with a shovel, but he finds that the field where the treasure is buried is now covered with 200 shoes on top of as many sticks stuck in the ground. After digging many, many holes, he gives up and tries to collect the shoes, but they disappear at his touch. After the tricked man leaves, the leprechaun moves his treasure to a magic place—the end of a rainbow. As in The Story of the Easter Bunny (HarperCollins, 2005), text and artwork are a perfect match, and Lambert captures the cozy charm of the leprechaun and his surroundings. The endpapers feature a map of the village, including Peat Bogs (Where Goblins Live), Enchanted Forest, and Fairy Ring. A good addition for St. Patrick's Day collections—Catherine Callegari, Gay-Kimball Library, Troy, NH