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- The Adventures of Liam Leprechaun -
The Journey to the End of the Rainbow
Chapter 1 Summary
After another rainbow sighting, Liam Leprechaun, is dragging a pot of gold to a new hiding place. Though he knows that no one can actually make it to the end of the rainbow, rainbows always make him nervous that someone will stumble across his treasure. Liam has recently gone through an apprenticeship to become a shoemaker and plans to open his own shoe store.
As Liam is walking away from the place that he has hidden his treasure, he notices a boy is having problems with a flat tire. Liam watches the boy and considers helping the boy. However, he decides that helping the boy is not worth the risk. If the boy keeps his eyes on Liam, he could force Liam to tell him where he has hidden his treasure. Just as Liam is about to flee the scene, he turns around and sees two bright green eyes staring back at him.
Chapter 1 Discussion
We found out that there is a universal law that keeps leprechauns from running away if someone keeps their eyes on them. If someone keeps their eyes on them long enough, they can force the leprechaun to share the location of their treasure. If you were Liam, would you help the boy with the flat tire or others in distress and risk losing your treasure? Why or why not?
Chapter 2 Summary
The eyes belong to a girl named Cara. Cara explains to Liam that her family has had to spend all of their money replacing the roof and windows of their house. Since they have spent all of their money on these repairs, she asks Liam to share part of his treasure with her to buy a new tire. Liam realizes that it is the tree that is next to the driveway that is causing the family so much trouble. First, the wind blew the tree branches through the windows of the house. Next, the wind blew branches through the roof of the house. Now, the roots of the tree have created a large crack in the driveway that popped the tire. Liam tells Cara that there is a treasure buried a foot below the deepest root of the tree. As Cara looks at the tree and takes her eyes off of Liam, he disappears.
Chapter 2 Discussion
Leprechauns used to grant three wishes. What would you wish for if you had three wishes?
Cara wants to help her grandma; how do you think Cara feels? If you were Cara, would you try to force Liam to share the location of his treasure?
Chapter 3 Summary
The boy with the flat tire, Colin, finds his sister, Cara, digging a giant hole near the large tree in their yard. When she tells him about her experience with Liam, he thinks that she is making the story up. In the past, she had told him a similar experience about a fairy godmother. He tells his sister to be careful with the shovel and goes inside.
While Colin does not believe his sister’s story, he wants to make sure that she is safe. He decides to watch her from the window that overlooks the yard. As he is watching, he soon finds himself asleep and dreaming about opening up a store to share all of his creations with the world. He wakes up startled, looks out the window, and realizes that his sister is nowhere to be found.
Chapter 3 Discussion
Colin didn’t believe Cara when she told him about Liam. Has anyone ever told you a story that you didn’t believe that ended up being true? Why didn’t you believe them? Have you ever told a story and not been believed? How did that make you feel?
Cara wants to help her grandma; how do you think Cara feels? If you were Cara, would you try to force Liam to share the location of his treasure?
Chapter 4 Summary
Colin finds his sister in the bottom of the hole, which has grown much larger. He tells his sister that it is dangerous to keep digging around the tree and decides to help her cut the tree down to make sure that she is safe. Colin grabs an axe and a rope. As Colin chops the tree with the axe, Cara pulls on the tree with the rope to keep the tree from falling into the house. The tree comes down, and Colin agrees to help her with the rest of her mission. He uses shears to cut each root that they encounter as they each dig around the tree with shovels. Eventually, they are able to pull the entire tree stump from the ground. They keep digging until they are far past the deepest root of the tree but find no treasure. Colin declares that Cara made the leprechaun story up and gives up on finding the treasure.
Chapter 4 Discussion
Colin and Cara worked hard digging for a treasure that they did not find. Have you ever worked hard for something that didn’t work out? What could you have done differently? What did you learn?
Chapter 5 Summary
After another close call, Liam decides to look around for more hiding places for his treasure. He finds himself in the same spot that Cara had spotted him earlier when a clever idea comes to him. He will hide his treasure under a thin layer of dirt when Cara and Colin are about to fill in the giant hole in their yard. Thus, his treasure will be well hidden, and he can focus on his shoe business. He decides to jump into the hole to make sure the idea is sound. As soon as he decides that he has found the perfect hiding place, he notices that he is not alone. Cara and Colin have found him again.
Chapter 5 Discussion
Liam is always hiding and re-hiding his treasure. If you had a treasure, would you hide it? If so, where would you hide it?
Cara and Colin are trying to rely on Liam’s hard work by taking his treasure. Have you ever relied of someone else’s work? Do you think Liam should?
Chapter 6 Summary
Colin accuses Liam of lying about the treasure under the tree. Liam explains that he never told Cara that his treasure was buried under the tree; he told her that there was a treasure buried under the tree. Since the tree had been wreaking havoc on their family financially, chopping down the tree would become the treasure that saves them from spending more on repairs in the future. Colin tells Liam that they have him cornered and will not let him go until he tells them where his treasure is hidden. With much reluctance, Liam discloses that his treasure is hidden in an abandoned house on the other side of Ha’Dollar bridge, which requires a toll to cross. The treasure is hidden under a large spider, which scares the children.
Once Liam tells the kids where the treasure is, the kids help him out of the hole. Moved by the children’s kindness, Liam gives them a pair of shoes to sell to gain a portion of the toll needed to cross the bridge. He also tells them that spiders will look at them the same way that they look at the spider. If they want the spider to be friendly, they must treat him like a friend.
Chapter 6 Discussion
Colin has started many projects that he hasn’t finished. Have you ever started something that you didn’t finish? Why didn’t you finish?
Colin and Cara are both afraid of spiders. Do you think spiders are scary or friendly?
Because of their kindness, Liam helped the kids even though they are going to take his treasure. If you were Liam, would you have helped the kids out by giving them his shoes to sell?
Chapter 7 Summary
Colin has many great ideas, but he has struggled to see his ideas to completion to this point in his life. He has a box of unfinished projects in his room. Liam had told Colin that seeing his ideas all the way through to completion will be a habit that serves him well.
Colin goes to his box of unfinished projects and pulls out a sock, a half pair of pants, and part of a shirt that he had begun sewing but never finished. With Cara’s help, he is able to finish the outfit. Cara and Colin take the outfit and shoes to the market to sell. At first, they do not encounter much luck. Just as they are about to give up, a lady decides to buy the outfit. They now have enough money to pay the toll.
Chapter 7 Discussion
Colin finished something that he had worked on very hard for a long time. Tell me about a time when you finished something that you worked very hard on. How did it feel?
Colin asks for Cara’s help with the thread and accepts her help selling the outfit, can you tell me about a time where you asked someone for help? How did it feel to ask for help?
Chapter 8 Summary
Colin and Cara pay the toll and cross Ha’Dollar bridge. They walk to the abandoned house where Liam’s treasure is hidden. They enter the creepy basement and turn on a flashlight to find the hairiest, scariest spider that they have ever seen.
Chapter 8 Discussion
The kids crossed Ha’dollar Bridge. Did you know: Ha’dollar Bridge is named after a real bridge? Where do you think the bridge is located?
Chapter 9 Summary
Colin and Cara remember what Liam told them about the spider: the spider will look at you the way that you look at the spider. They decide that the spider is friendly, and the spider treats them like friends. He tells them where Liam’s pot of gold is hidden. To their surprise, the pot is completely empty.
Chapter 9 Discussion
Cara and Colin sewed and sold an outfit, crossed Ha’dollar Bridge for the first time, and overcame their fear of spiders only to find an empty pot of gold. If you went through everything that Cara and Colin went through only to find an empty pot with no gold, what would you do?
When Cara and Colin removed the tree from their yard, they found a treasure that was not gold. Can you think of any treasures that Cara and Colin found along their way to the empty pot with no gold?
Chapter 10 Summary
Cara goes looking for Liam. Colin has decided to give up on his dreams, and he is going to burn all of his unfinished creations. Liam feels like a fraud now that the kids know his secret; he is a treasure-less leprechaun. Cara takes Liam to a large mirror in the middle of a clearing and asks him what he sees. He tells her that he sees a leprechaun without a treasure. Cara reminds Liam of the lesson that she learned with the spider; The world will look at you the way that you look at the world. If you look at yourself as a leprechaun without a treasure, you will always be without a treasure, but if you look at yourself as someone with treasure deep inside you, you will find it.
Cara instructs Liam to close his eyes and imagine his treasure. When he opens his eyes, he can’t believe what he sees. His reflection had jumped up, onto the mirror, and was now balancing on the point of his hat with his heels in the air. Suddenly, a voice comes out from the mirror. This voice is Liam’s guiding voice and is Liam’s first treasure. Liam’s guiding voice explains that all leprechauns start their life hiding a fake treasure because they think they are supposed to have treasure to hide. It isn’t until they admit that they don’t have treasure that they can become who they are instead of pretending to be who they think that they are supposed to be.
The voice explains that there are two paths for all leprechauns. The first path is the selfish path. Leprechauns on the selfish path spend their days hiding fake treasure in an attempt to impress others. The second path is the helping path. Leprechauns on the helping path use their time to help others. It is only when the leprechaun switches paths from the selfish path to the helping path that they can find any of the four treasures, including their guiding voice. As Liam realizes what he must do, the clouds split from the sky and a rainbow appears. He can’t believe his eyes when the rainbow in the mirror shines directly into his chest. Liam has finally made it to the end of the rainbow.
Chapter 10 Discussion
Liam must choose between the selfish path and the path of helping others. As humans, we often must decide between being selfish and helping others. Can you tell me about a time when you were selfish? Can you tell me about a time when you helped others?
Chapter 11 Summary
Liam and Cara rush to find Colin to get him to change his mind about burning his creations. Upon arrival, they see that the fire has already started. Liam implores Colin to reconsider his actions. He tells him that they could start a store together. Colin is still bitter about not finding the treasure in the abandoned house. He changes course when Liam reminds him that treasures are not found in an instant but earned over time with hard work and perseverance–by seeing our goals through to completion.
Liam grabs a hose and starts climbing a nearby tree to pour water on the fire. As he is stepping onto the branch above the fire, he loses his footing. He is about to fall into the fire when Colin pulls on the hose and lifts Liam back to safety. Cara turns on the faucet, and they are able to put out the fire. Colin’s creations are saved.
Chapter 11 Discussion
You wished for three things earlier in the book. Liam taught us that there is no such thing as instant treasure, but we can earn treasure with hard work and persistence. How can you work toward your wishes without the help of a leprechaun to grant your wishes?
Chapter 12 Summary
Our story ends as two men cross Ha’Dollar bridge and notice a store selling a wide range of items. The store is much busier than any other store on the block. As they move closer, they can’t believe their eyes. The store is being run by a leprechaun and two kids.
Chapter 12 Discussion
Liam, Cara, and Colin started their own store. If you started your own store, what would you name the store and what would you sell?