JAMIE O'ROURKE AND THE BIG POTATO

JAMIE O'ROURKE AND THE BIG POTATO

Tommie de Paolo

Synopsis:

Jamie O’Rourke is a lazy Irishmen. He’s so lazy, his wife does all the work around the house. One night, Jamie happens upon a leprechaun. As the legend goes, Jamie is given magic seeds that a big potato. The big potato eases his wife’s worries of having no food for the winter. Using a combination of simplistic pictures and complex dialectic sentences, this Irish legend comes to life. But, what will they do with that potato?

Response:

I found an that both How I Became a Pirate and Jamie O’Rourke and the Big Potato offered children genuine dialect. This dialect brings the book to life, if offers the reader a chance to give characters depth. Using dialect is an interesting way exemplify the various aspects of speech throughout the world. Having read this book to classes before, I often receive a chuckle from the kids when I break into an Irish accent, but it captures their attention and brings them into the book. Using dialect as a starting point, kids can analyze this text from various dimensions (language, illustrations, plot, character, etc.).

The language in a book is one of the child’s primary assets to decode and link the book to their own experiences; the other being the illustrations. Dialectic books are not meant to be hurtful or disrespectful to different cultural groups, rather, they are used to bring text to life.

Langston Hughes used African-American dialect in his early 20th century prose and poetry, which gave his words a meaning beyond the typical definition. It gave a voice to the poetry. I am not saying that this text and Langston Hughes are approaching dialect from the same angle, but they both use it to convey a point of view. Hughes used dialect to offer political commentary to the time. de Paolo uses it to mimic the time.

Activity:

First thing I thought when I read How I Became a Pirate was dialect. Hence, I linked with Jamie O’Rourke. What better way to link these two pieces then with a “Reader’s Theatre.” Have kids split up into groups and use the dialect from each piece to create their own rendition of the story. They children can add their own lines to enhance the story line.