ClassX Video Lessons Youtube Channel Awnie's House ???? Kids Book Read Aloud: FINNEGAN’S LEPRECHAUN LUCK by Janelle Thompson and Liesl Francom
Hello, my fun-loving reading friends! It’s Annie. Welcome to my house. Are you ready for a story?
Today, we’re going to read about a boy named Finnegan McPhee. Finnegan is really good at finding things, but he wants to find something extra special. Let’s see what happens in “Finnegan’s Leprechaun Luck” by Janelle Thompson and illustrated by Liesl Francom.
In Ireland, Finnegan McPhee was the best at finding lost things. He helped Mr. McGinnis find a ring, Mrs. Flannery find her glasses, and Mrs. Murphy find her sewing needle. But Finnegan wanted to find something no one else had found before—a leprechaun!
One morning, Finnegan decided to search for leprechauns in the Rocky Hills near his home. He climbed and searched all day, but soon the sky turned dark and cloudy. Thunder rumbled, and Finnegan realized he needed to get home before the storm hit.
As the rain began to pour, Finnegan found shelter in a cave. While watching the rain, he saw a small figure dressed in green coming toward him. “Is that a leprechaun?” Finnegan wondered. He hid behind a rock to watch.
The little man entered the cave, and Finnegan peeked out. The leprechaun saw him and asked, “What are you doing there?” Finnegan was amazed. He had found a leprechaun!
Finnegan wanted the leprechaun’s pot of gold, but the leprechaun said, “I don’t have to give you anything. You didn’t find me; I found you!”
The leprechaun offered a challenge. He would make a rainbow, and Finnegan had to find the pot of gold at the end before the rainbow disappeared. “Do you want to try?” the leprechaun asked.
Finnegan agreed, thinking he could find the gold with his luck. The leprechaun promised not to move the gold and created a beautiful rainbow.
Finnegan hurried to find the end of the rainbow. He ran over hills and through fields, but the rainbow seemed to move further away. As the colors began to fade, Finnegan saw a glimmer of gold!
He ran as fast as he could, but when he reached the spot, the rainbow vanished, leaving only a small four-leaf clover. Finnegan realized the leprechaun had tricked him by moving the rainbow, not the gold.
Even though he didn’t find the pot of gold, Finnegan smiled. The leprechaun had left him a bit of good luck with the four-leaf clover.
I hope you enjoyed our story today! See you next time!
Find Your Own Treasure Hunt: Just like Finnegan, you can go on a treasure hunt! Ask an adult to hide small objects around your home or yard. Use clues to find them. Think about how Finnegan used his skills to find things and try to use your own special skills to find the hidden treasures.
Create a Rainbow: Use a glass of water and a flashlight to create your own rainbow. Shine the flashlight through the glass of water onto a white surface. Observe the colors that appear and think about how rainbows are made in nature. Can you find all the colors of the rainbow?
Lucky Clover Craft: Make your own four-leaf clover using green paper. Cut out four heart shapes and glue them together at the points to form a clover. Decorate it with glitter or stickers. Think about what makes you feel lucky and write it on your clover. Share your lucky clover with a friend or family member.
Sure! Here’s a sanitized version of the transcript:
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Hello, my fun-loving reading friends! It’s Annie. Welcome to my house. Are you ready for a story?
When it comes to finding things, Finnegan McPhee has awful luck. Will his luck continue when he has to face the ultimate challenge? Let’s find out as we read “Finnegan’s Leprechaun Luck.” If you have a copy, go get it so you can read along with me.
**Finnegan’s Leprechaun Luck**
Written by Janelle Thompson
Illustrated by Liesl Frankham
In all of Ireland, there was no one luckier at finding things than Finnegan McPhee. He helped Mr. McGinnis find a ring that he lost in his pretty field. He helped old Mrs. Flannery find her lost glasses. He even found Mrs. Murphy’s sewing needle that she had dropped in a pile of hay.
But Finnegan soon grew bored of finding such ordinary things. “I want to find something special,” Finnegan thought one evening. “Something challenging, something that no one else has found before. I want to find a leprechaun!”
He set out early the next morning to search for leprechauns in the Rocky Hills just north of his home. He climbed rock after rock and searched hill after hill until finally, he could search no more. The bright sunny sky he had enjoyed earlier that morning had turned to a dark and cloudy afternoon, and the sound of thunder rumbled through the hills.
“Dear me,” Finnegan exclaimed. “I lost track of the time! I’d best be getting home now before the storm hits.” Just then, a giant raindrop fell from the sky and landed on his shoulder, followed by another and another. There was no way he’d make it home in time now.
Finnegan ran inside a nearby cave for shelter just as the rain began to pour heavily down. “Oh, made it just in time!” Finnegan announced to himself as the rain came down.
As he stood watching the rainfall, Finnegan noticed a slight movement off in the distance. He narrowed his eyes to make out the object in the rain and was surprised to see the shape of a winged man dressed in green approaching the cave.
“Is that alive?” Finnegan whispered aloud. “I do believe it’s a leprechaun! I’d better hide so as not to scare him off.” Finnegan ran to the back of the cave and crouched down behind a boulder, waiting for the leprechaun.
A tiny pair of feet could be heard scuffling into the cave, and then all went silent for a time. Finnegan carefully peered around the boulder to catch a glimpse of the strange new arrival but was startled to find a small wet face staring right back at him.
“What do you think you’re doing there, hiding behind that rock?” the soggy little man demanded, his hands placed on his hips and his bushy orange eyebrows furrowed deep. “Out with you!”
Finnegan did as he was told and stood in awe of the leprechaun standing before him. “Glory be!” Finnegan muttered. “At last, I really did it! I actually found me a leprechaun! And now that I found you, I best be using my wishes for your pot of gold.”
“Wishes?” the leprechaun scoffed. “I don’t have to grant you anything! You didn’t find me; I found you! I’m the best finder of all.”
Finnegan was stunned. “Surely this is just one of the leprechaun’s tricks!”
“You little rascal,” Finnegan argued. “You found me after I found you! That makes me the best finder of all!”
“Little sticks,” the clever leprechaun replied. “The best finder of all wouldn’t need to wish for a pot of gold. He’d point it out!”
“But it could be anywhere!” Finnegan said. “And how will I know that you won’t move the gold if I get close to finding it?”
The leprechaun replied, “I’ll conjure up a rainbow and keep my gold at the end of it. That way, you’ll always be able to see where it’s at. I’ll remain at the cave, but after eight minutes, the rainbow will fade, and with it, the pot of gold will fade also.”
“What’s it to be? Would you like to look for it under a rainbow to point the way?”
Finnegan paused to think. The little man had promised not to interfere, and with his luck at finding things, what did he have to lose? “Or you’ll stay here and that you won’t move the gold?” he cautiously questioned.
“As sure as a shamrock grows three leaves,” the leprechaun replied.
By now, the rain had slowed to a stop, and Finnegan smiled at the little man’s promise. “Tis a deal you have then,” Finnegan said.
With that, the leprechaun walked to the front of the cave and caught the droplets of water that were forming on the rocks overhead. Then he tossed the droplets high up into the air, and the water’s mist fell slowly down to the ground just as the first ray of sunshine broke out from behind the clouds. Almost immediately, a magnificent rainbow began to take form, arching high up into the sky and landing just beyond the neighboring hills.
Then, with a grand swoop of his hand and a slight bow, the leprechaun said farewell.
Finnegan wasted no time getting started. He gave the wee man a nod and then set out to find his fortune. He knew he’d have to hurry if he wanted to find the pot of gold in time.
He ran down one hill and hiked up over the next to where he thought the rainbow had ended. But when he got there, he was surprised to find out that the rainbow was further out still. “I could have sworn that this was where the rainbow ended,” Finnegan mused. “But no, I see the toy was mistaken for not here but over by those boulders instead.”
He quickened his pace but found that the closer he got to the boulders, the further away the rainbow seemed to be. By now, the colors on the rainbow were beginning to fade quickly, and Finnegan knew that his time was running out.
Again, he looked at the rainbow to try to pinpoint its location, but this time, as he did so, he could see the faint glimmer of something gold shining there at the rainbow’s end. “I see it!” Finnegan cried out. “I found the pot of gold! Now if only I can reach it!”
Finnegan ran toward the gold as fast as his legs could carry him, but by the time he was within arm’s reach of it, the rainbow had faded completely away, and nothing but a small four-leaf clover remained, marking the exact place where the pot of gold had been.
It was then that Finnegan realized that he’d been outwitted. For true to his word, it was not the gold that the leprechaun had moved, but the end of the rainbow instead. And although he’d been tricked out of finding the pot of gold, Finnegan knew that the leprechaun had indeed left him a bit of good luck.
I hope you enjoyed our story today! See you next time!
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