Saint Patrick and the Peddler (Orchard Paperbacks) [Paperback]

Margaret Hodges (Author), Paul Brett Johnson (Illustrator)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 1997 | Age Level: 5 and up | Series: Orchard Paperbacks

"A kind but poor peddler is visited three times in his dreams by St. Patrick. The good saint tells him to head for Dublin and wait on the bridge over the river Liffey, for there he will hear good news. . . . Johnson's acrylic paintings capture the beauty of the Irish countryside, from small country lanes to a beautiful nighttime view of Dublin."--School Library Journal. Full color.

Editorial Reviews

From Kirkus Reviews

Reshaping a tale found in both Jacobs's More English Fairy Tales and Sawyer's The Way of the Storyteller (as she explains in an excellent note), Hodges creates a briefer, more accessible tale retaining enough of Sawyer's Irish lilt for a pleasing flavor. A generous peddler has given away so much that he's destitute. Going to bed hungry--in his cabin near Ballymena, where Saint Patrick once lived--he dreams that the saint sends him to Dublin, where ``you will hear what you were meant to hear.'' After the saint's third dream-visitation, the peddler complies and meets a Dubliner who scoffs at his own three dreams- -about a treasure back in Ballymena, where the peddler duly finds it. In Sawyer's tale, he builds a chapel for weary travelers; here, the still-generous peddler's wealth allows him to have a beautiful wife and children, but the updated conclusion doesn't really change the story's essential tenor. Johnson renders an idyllic countryside in the spirit of Constable, but the romantic landscapes don't overwhelm the story (as Thomas Locker's tend to do); rather, they make a dramatic setting for the lively, effectively characterized figures. An auspicious blend of appealing story and engaging visual interpretation. (Folklore/Picture book. 4-10) -- Copyright ©1993, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 5 and up
  
• Paperback: 40 pages
• Publisher: Orchard Books (NY) (March 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0531070891
• ISBN-13: 978-0531070895
• Product Dimensions: 9.9 x 8.8 x 0.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,326,255 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars An Irish or Jewish tale?, March 4, 2011

By 

Gneissguy (California) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Saint Patrick and the Peddler (Paperback)

The "Irish" story told in this short, 1993 book, despite the author's endnote about its origin, is very similar to the shorter story told in Uri Shulevitz's 1978 Caldecott Honor book, The Treasure. In both stories, a poor man travels many miles to meet someone on a bridge, where he is told that a treasure awaits him at home. In The Treasure, the man finds it in his stove; in St. Partrick and..., it is found under the hearth. Hodges adds many more details, specific place and personal names, and a message about the importance of literacy, but both stories are built on the same general framework.