Jimeen by Pádraig Ó Siochfhradha
(An Seabhac - The Hawk)
Translated by Patricia Egan, Peter Fallon and Íde ní Laoghaire
Jimeen is an hilarious book, set in my grandparents’ time, about a boy who manages to get into trouble an awful lot, even-though he
tries to be good. His mother is a bit of a slave-driver, and they have many a battle.
At one stage, Jimeen wants to follow the Wren, and he has to have someone dressed as an old woman with him. None of the girls he
knows will do it so he takes his sister’s dress and makes another poor boy wear it, causing one more battle with his mam.
Jimeen was very curious about cats having nine lives and decides to drown his cat to see if it will come to life again!! The adults know
that cats don’t really have nine lives, but they keep saying that they do, not realising that Jimeen really does believe it.
I love the old fashioned names in this book like Mary-Andy, Mickileen-Owen and Tim-Larry.
You will really enjoy the bit about the gander that gets very drunk!
Jimeen is a great read so don’t miss it.
Emily Duffy, Age 11
For Kildare County Library
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