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35 Best St. Patrick's Day Read Aloud Books for Kids
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items Celebrate the Emerald Isle with a curated collection that goes far beyond green carnations and lucky charms. This list includes read aloud books for preschool and elementary students. ✵ ✵ ✵ Book titles are affiliate links — but buying is never the point. Grab our free library checklist on Substack!
Sections
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St. Patrick - The Man, the Myth, the Mission 📜
Irish Folk Tales - Leprechauns, Giants, and High Kings 🍀
Irish Heritage - Stories of Home and Heart 🎻
Emerald Isle - Ireland & St. Patrick's Day Celebrations 🇮🇪
Shenanigans - Silly St. Patrick's Stories 🌈
The Road Ahead - Our 2026 St. Patrick's TBR List 📚
St. Patrick - The Man, the Myth, the Mission 📜
Discover the real St. Patrick, a towering example of faith in God and God's faithfulness to us
Fun, rhyming story and friendly illustrations. This is one of our favorite St. Patrick's Day books.
Saint Patrick the Forgiver (Ned Bustard)
This is a more in depth biography of St. Patrick - plan to read over a few sessions if your kids are very little.
Patrick of Ireland (Simonetta Carr)
A simple introduction to Patrick from Voice of the Martyrs. We read this every year.
Patrick: God's Courageous Captive (VOM)
A must-read introduction to St. Patrick - this book covers his biography and several of the legends surrounding his life and ministry. Told from a Catholic perspective.
Patrick: Patron Saint of Ireland (Tomie dePaola)
I read St. Patrick's Confession every few years - “My name is Patrick. I am a sinner, a simple country person, and the least of all believers.”
The Confession of St. Patrick
Irish Folk Tales - Leprechauns, Giants, and High Kings 🍀
Enter a world within our world through traditional tales and contemporary magical encounters.
This is a classic St. Patrick's read aloud. Our favorite part is the ending. We love Tomie de Paola.
Jamie O'Rourke and the Big Potato (Tomie de Paola)
A great companion to the other Jamie O'Rourke book. This is a classic Irish tale—the only one we've read so far that features a pooka!
Jamie O'Rourke and the Pooka (Tomie de Paola)
A delightful, well-rounded collection of Irish stories and folk tales.
A Pot O' Gold: Irish Stories & Folklore (Kathleen Krull)
Fun and clever – classically Irish and classic de Paola. M'Coul's wife is the star of the story.
Fin M'Coul: The Giant of Knockmany Hill (Tomie de Paola)
The illustrations are the triumph of this folk tale retelling. Finn McCool is known to have a magic thumb that grants wisdom or tells the future, depending on the tale. Finn McCool and the Great Fish tells how Finn got that magic in the first place!
Finn McCool and the Great Fish (Eve Bunting)
“Lucks all well and good but myself I’d rather depend on my wits” - an adventure with luck and leprechauns.
Fiona's Luck (Teresa Bateman)
This is the retelling of a classic Irish tale - full of adventure and twists. Fitting for older kids rather than preschool as it is textually dense.
Brave Margaret: An Irish Adventure (Robert D. San Souci)
My kids enjoyed the cleverness and trickiness of this story and especially appreciated the ending.
The Leprechaun's Gold (Pamela Duncan Edwards)
Fun story, fun adventure, fun illustrations.
O'Sullivan Stew (Hudson Talbott)
A longer read aloud but the language is fun and the illustrations are darling!
Maisie McGillicuddy's Sheep Got Muddy (Kelly Grettler)
An Irish twist on a classic fairy tale. Some of the plot elements seemed a little out there for me, but my kids really liked this one!
The Irish Cinderlad (Shirley Climo)
Brendan is a lesser-known Irish saint. We were looking for an age-appropriate biography because my kids know a song about him. We enjoyed this, though it is on the longer side.
Brendan the Navigator (Jean Fritz)
A illustrated collection of Irish sayings and poetry. My non-fiction loving eight year old loved the miscellaneous collection of limericks and proverbs.
Leprechaun Luck (Erin Gobragh)
Another fun human-leprechaun story with an enchanting writing style.
Tim O'Toole and the Wee Folk (Gerald McDermott)
A battle of wits between Tom and a leprechaun. We enjoyed the back and forth as well as the classic-style illustrations.
Clever Tom and the Leprechaun (Linda Shute)
While a modern story rather than a classic folktale, this uses a lot of typical Irish elements to tell the story of an unlikely friendship.
The Leprechaun Under the Bed (Teresa Bateman)
A silly leprechaun story by a classic author. The title is very fitting!
That's What Leprechauns Do (Eve Bunting)
Out of print - a fun mixup of circumstances that plays with truth v. blarney.
The Ring of Truth (Teresa Bateman)
Irish Heritage - Stories of Home and Heart 🎻
Honor the resilience and longing of the Irish people, whether at home in Ireland or as immigrants abroad.
A sweet story about a little boy who wants to prove that he's not too little to march in the St. Patrick's Day Parade. A 1980 classic.
St. Patrick's Day in the Morning (Eve Bunting)
This story is compelling and heartwarming – about an Irish family who immigrates to America.
Fiona's Lace (Patricia Polacco)
The shillelagh is used to tell an Irish-American family's story. It made us think about our family heritage as well.
The St. Patrick's Day Shillelagh (Janett Nolan)
Emerald Isle - Ireland & St. Patrick's Day Celebrations 🇮🇪
Travel to Ireland in your imagination and explore St. Patrick's Day traditions.
A classic introduction to St. Patrick's Day holiday celebrations.
St. Patrick's Day (Gail Gibbons)
We love these alphabet books. This is a fun, beautiful introduction to Ireland from A-Z.
S is for Shamrock (Eve Bunting)
This is a rerelease of Sasek's original 1960s book. The vintage watercolor illustrations are charming, and the facts are accessible to a preschool child while still being interesting for an elementary child.
This Is Ireland (M. Sasek)
This is a board book with a slightly squishy cover. It's a perfect introduction to St. Patrick's Day customs for a baby or toddler.
Baby's First St. Patrick's Day
Though out of print, this is an accessible, attractive way to introduce kids to St. Patrick's history, customs, and celebrations. We found it at our local library.
St. Patrick's Day (Ann Heinrichs)
Shenanigans - Silly St. Patrick's Stories 🌈
Frolic through the pages of these clever, playful, and mischievous capers.
A silly story about a boy who forgets to wear green to school for St. Patrick's Day.
Jeremy Bean's St. Patrick's Day (Alice Schertle)
A good one in the Old Lady series. My kids love predicting the rhymes and reading along.
There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Clover! (Lucille Colandro)
A board book for babies and toddlers - my toddler (at the time) loved the vibrant illustrations and my older son laughed out loud at all of the puns.
You Shamrock My World: (Rose Rossner)
A silly “origin story” for how the leprechaun gold got to the end of the rainbow.
Too Many Leprechauns (Stephen Krensky)
The Road Ahead - Our 2026 St. Patrick's TBR List 📚
These are next on our shelf; once reviewed, they’ll join the collection above. If you’ve enjoyed one of these—or have a recommendation for this list—let us know!
TBR - We've enjoyed Tompert's Valentine and Nicholas biographies, so we look forward to reading this one.
Saint Patrick (Ann Tompert)
TBR - My older son learned about limericks in school last year and has tried to write some of his own. I know he'll enjoy this.
The Nonsense Limericks of Edward Lear
TBR - This is middle grade rather than a picture book, but it's right on target with what my oldest is interested in right now.
The Wolf and the Shield: Saint Patrick Adventure (Sherry Weaver Smith)
TBR - I read several of the Trailblazers books as a child and look forward to introducing this to my children.
Patrick of Ireland: The Boy Who Forgave (KC Murdarasi)
TBR - The illustrations are so inviting! I love that this book introduces kids to different Irish landmarks.
Let's See Ireland! (Sarah Bowie)
TBR - We've read a couple renditions of this story but are always interested in more folklore.
The Tall Tale of the Giant's Causeway (Lari Don)
TBR - The description of this biography notes that it blends real quotes from St. Patrick within the story.
The Story of St. Patrick (James A. Janda)
TBR - My kids are always ready for a cat story. I'll have to check out the rest of this series.
Whiskers Finds His Luck: St. Patrick's Day (Shana Gorian)
TBR - Another Irish folktale. This one is new to us.
Rónán and the Mermaid: A Tale of Old Ireland (Marianne McShane)
TBR - The illustrations are cute. I suspect that my preschool son will enjoy this one!
The Secret Life Of Leprechauns (Luna James)
TBR - This is a newer book, but we're intrigued by the idea of a Holiday Mystery series.
The Mysterious March Wind (Jessica Bryan)
TBR - told from the perspective of a Celtic boy.
Patrick & the Fire (Cornelia Bilinsky)
TBR - An especially enchanting illustration style. I look forward to reading this one!
Paddy and the Wolves (Steve Nagel)
TBR - a legend about St. Brigid
Brigid & Butter (Pamela Love)