Jamie O'Rourke and the Pooka

Jamie O'Rourke, the laziest man in Ireland, whose adventures began in author/illustrator Tomie dePaola's Jamie O'Rourke and the Big Potato, returns in this second tale. Left on his own by his wife Eileen, who must visit her sister, Jamie is provided with lots of good food, and instructed to clean up after each meal. Despite these simple instructions, he manages to make a terrible mess each night, while entertaining his friends, only to see everything cleaned and set to rights by the disgruntled pooka—also known as a púca, these mischievous spirits of Irish folklore often appear in some equine form—who appears each night. When Jamies works up the courage to question the pooka, and gives him an old coat, the results are not what he show more expected...

Unlike the earlier book featuring this character, which was a retelling of a traditional tale—no source material is given in Jamie O'Rourke and the Big Potato, but it is described as an Irish folktale, and was published as part of Tomie dePaola's Whitebird Books collection, an imprint which included a number of folk tales from around the world—Jamie O'Rourke and the Pooka appears to be an original fairy-tale, albeit one based on Irish folklore. It is an entertaining tale, one with a humorous ending in which Jamie gets his just deserts (although Eileen, sadly, does not), and features dePaola's trademark illustrations. Although not a folktale, I'd recommend it to young folklore enthusiasts, and to readers who enjoyed the first story about this character. show less

Lazy Jamie O'Rourke is left to keep house when his wife Eileen leaves for several days. He spends each evening having a grand time with his three friends, and every evening a pooka cleans up his mess. Everything is going grandly for Jamie until he discovers why the pooka is cleaning his house each night. The pooka was lazy during his life on earth, and now is tasked with cleaning for others. Jamie gives the pooka his coat, which completes the pooka's punishment and leaves Jamie with a mess on the last night before Eileen's return. But Jamie doesn't quite learn his lesson, and instead resorts to pouting over his misfortune in being generous.

Jamie O'Rourke is the laziest man in Ireland. When his wife goes away for a week, he's supposed to look after the home ... instead, he has a party with his friends! They make a huge mess that Jamie dreads to clean. That night, a pooka comes to his house and does all the cleaning for him. Ecstatic, Jamie relies on the Pooka to clean up all the messes from his nightly parties, and he's so pleased with the Pooka's work that he decides to give him a reward. Only, Jamie may regret that simple gift of a coat.

The characters in this story are engaging, with a dash of mischievous spice. I enjoy dePaola's work for his lovable characters, that are good but flawed, approachable, and I also enjoy his story lines that draw on so many different show more cultural beliefs and legends. In this book, we have the Pooka, a mythical creature populating many Irish legends, but likely unfamiliar to American audiences. The novelty of the character, and the upbeat and humorous plot, are sure to draw kids and adults. show less

Lazy Jamie O'Rourke is left to keep house when his wife Eileen leaves for several days. He spends each evening having a grand time with his three friends, and every evening a pooka cleans up his mess. Everything is going grandly for Jamie until he discovers why the pooka is cleaning his house each night. The pooka was lazy during his life on earth, and now is tasked with cleaning for others. Jamie gives the pooka his coat, which completes the pooka's punishment and leaves Jamie with a mess on the last night before Eileen's return. But Jamie doesn't quite learn his lesson, and instead resorts to pouting over his misfortune in being generous.

The illustrations in this book reminded me of the style of illustrations that Tomie dePaola used in “Strega Nona’s gift.” I enjoyed the illustrations, but I did not enjoy the book as much.
Jamie O’Rourke is a very lazy man. His wife leaves for a week to visit her sister, and Jamie is left alone in the house. Each night, his friends come over and make a terrible mess. Every night, a pooka comes in the house and cleans up the mess. One night, Jamie stays up to speak to the pooka. He finds out that this is the pooka’s punishment for being lazy in a former life. Jamie gives the pooka a coat, and the pooka no longer cleans for him – as the punishment was to clean until someone recognized the pooka’s work. So, on the last night show more before Jamie’s wife comes home, the pooka does not clean and Jamie’s wife comes home to a very messy house.
I personally did not really like the message of this book. Jamie is a very lazy man and seemingly only cares about himself. His wife has left him food to make sure that he will be taken care of, and Jamie does not seem at all grateful. He has his friends over and they make a terrible mess that Jamie has no intention of cleaning. The next day, his friends are surprised that the house is clean. Jamie lies to his friends and tells them that he cleaned the house. On the last night, when Jamie discovers that cleaning is the pooka’s punishment for being lazy, I thought Jamie might learn a lesson. Unfortunately, he did not, and goes to sleep without cleaning up any of the mess. I don’t really understand the point of the story because Jamie did not learn anything throughout the book. I do not think I would want to read this to children, because laziness and lying are not things I want to encourage in my students. show less

This story was really enjoyable. The book written by Tomie DePaola is about the lazy Jamie O’ Rourke dealing with the house while his wife goes away for a couple of days. His wife leaves him very specific and simple instructions on what to do while she is gone. For the days that Jamie’s wife was gone, his friends come over with a jug of cider and make a mess having a good time. Being the lazy man he is, Jamie leaves everything for the mornings to clean up. Every night before Jamie goes to sleep, a creature comes in and cleans the whole house for him.one night, Jamie gets curious and decides to stay awake to confront this Pooka. He gives the creature a coat because it admits to being lazy like Jamie and now having to work every show more night. When the Pooka gets the coat, he takes it, thanks Jamie, and leaves. When he asks him why is he leaving without cleaning, the pooka says “now it’s your turn. My punishment was only to last until some kind creature like yourself liked the way I’d done my duty and rewarded me for it.” Tomie DePaola writes in a way that makes me read it in an Irish accent. I love the mental development that is in the book. The ending of the story has me thinking about what happened to Jamie. The moral of the story would be really good for the kids. Depaola’s illustrations match this wonderful folktale. I loved the colorful phrases, it makes the book that much sweeter. show less

Funny fable - not quite like any other I'd encountered, but certainly in keeping with the style of the best folk tales for children. The rhythm of the Irish dialect shown - a great read-aloud even if you're, say, mostly Scandinavian.