Christmas being a time when many people get book tokens or an especially generous tip from Auntie Maureen, allows children and young people to feel that special joy of buying books for oneself.
These titles are arranged more or less in age order, youngest to oldest.
I’m Very Busy, A (Nearly Forgotten) Birthday Book,
by Oliver Jeffers
(HarperCollins, €10.99)
Oliver Jeffers is a wonderful artist storyteller. Little Bridget’s Friends are all very busy on her birthday, but she gets to appreciate the things that really matter on the day. A muted but amusing book about the way we are all too busy, and how we can change so as to communicate to those who are close friends and family what we feel.
Puffling and the Stormy Sea,
by Erika McCann, drawn by Gerry Daly
(O’Brien Press, €14.99)
The little hero of Skellig Michael reappears in another adventure on its rocky spires. She gets lost, but she can always rely on some new animal friends to see her safely home again to her pinnacled home, an amusing combination of the rugged landscape and the kindly creatures that live in it.
Jonty Gentoo: The Adventures of a Penguin,
by Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler
(Allison Green Books, €9.99)
The homesick penguin escapes from the zoo where he now lives in an attempt to make his way to his native place in the Antarctic. The Genoa sets off on an adventure all the way to that icy place so far away, which he gets to by way of the North Pole, which is a bit of a complication. This is a warm, funny rhyming picture book about bravery, friendship and finding your place in the world. The creators – who were called by the Sunday Times “the Lennon and McCartney of children’s publishing” – are well established favourites with their readable rhyming texts.
Investigators: Case Files,
by John Patrick Green, illustrated by Steve Behling and Chris Fenoglio
(Pan Macmillan, €13.99)
With half a dozen new cases to solve the ever-popular intrepid scaly detectives return to set young readers new challenges to solve the cases for themselves ahead of the tecs own solutions – a gentle introduction to the joys of finding things out for yourself, and the more young teens delight of detective stories.
Tom Gates: Pesky Pets and Parties (Hopefully),
by Liz Pichon
(Scholastic, €12.99)
Our young hero faces a tangle of term end party problems: with the music the school band the Dog Zombies will play, friend Leroy’s party too, his fancy dress costume, not to speak of parents. Problems, they all add up don’t they; so though it may only be a story, it seems just like life in another diary of chaos.
Turtle Moon,
written by Hannah Gold, illustrated by Levi Pinfold
(HarperCollins Children’s Books, €9.99)
An ecological adventure story with detective overtones in a tropical environment. Set down in the Central American country of Costa Rica, Silver is a girl with a troubled family. While staying with them at a turtle rescue centre on the edge of the ocean, where her father is painting the activities, she has to solve the mystery of who is stealing the precious eggs of the endangered local turtles. Hannah Gold is the author of earlier books of a similar kind, Finding Bear and The Girl Who Stole an Elephant. But this one too is a really special book.
The Stolen Child,
by William Butler Yeats, illustrations created by Lauren O’Hara
(The O’Brien Press, €19.99)
An enchanting introduction to one of Ireland’s great poets, brought about through the text of an early poem and the enchanting illustrations of Lauren O’Hara. The poem is from the early decades of the poet, the days he was under the full influence of Ireland’s ancient folklore, and when his verses were literally on everyone’s lips to sing and recite. One would like to see similar collections of other poets, such as Padraic Colum.
Celtic Myths: Meet the Gods, Creatures and Heroes of Celtic Legend,
by Martin Macintyre and illustrated by Katie Ponder
(DK Children, €22.99)
These twenty retellings of Celtic myths will provide an attractive introduction to the wealth of Ireland ancient and traditions. As a first introduction to the wonder tales of our ancestors this book provides a vivid exploration for younger readers. It is one of a series of retellings from the same publishers for further exploration.
The Enchanted Island
by Kieran Fanning, with illustrations by Julie Airedale
(Gill Books, €24.99)
A tour of the 32 counties of the island of Ireland with a tale from each one, tales of a very varied kind, which gently introduce young readers to many of the charms of the country they live in. The places are mapped and facts given about them that are an addition to the narratives. Myths, legends and geography, what could be better fun.
National Geographic Kids Weird But True! 2026
(National Geographic Books, €14.99)
As a change for those other hardy annuals The Guinness Book of Records and Ripley’s Believe It Or Not, these samples of the amazing but also vividly illustrated true aspects of natural history makes a brighter present for the budding naturalist in the family. And it is only one of a huge range of age sensitive books dealing with the universe around us to follow up on later.
The Spider who Saved Christmas,
by Raymond Arryyo
(Sophia Institute Press, €17.22)
This charming fable tells the tale of what happened to the Holy Family on their way to Egypt after receiving the message of the angel. When Joseph, Mary, and Jesus are in danger of being discovered and harmed by Herod’s murderous soldiers, a cave-dwelling spider named Nephila risks her and her children’s safety to help her special visitors.
Available at Knock Shrine bookshop online.
The Christmas Light,
by Claudia Cangilla McAdam
(Sophia Institute Press, €17.22)
This too is an engaging tale, relating that night in the stables at Bethlehem, told through the eyes and experiences of the young daughter of a Bethlehem innkeeper, troubled on a sleepless night in her crowded, comfortless family home.
Thinking about the couple who have been given shelter in the stable out back, she gets up and kindly takes them out the makings of a fire to keep them to find they are not now alone. There she approaches the newborn Babe asleep in the manger and has an encounter that changes her mood and alters her life forever.
Claudia Cangilla McAdam’s marvellous retelling of the Christmas story demonstrates to children how an encounter with Jesus can have a life changing effect,
Available at Knock Shrine bookshop online.
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An appeal for a return to classic children’s books
During the hectic and entertaining The Late, Late Toy Show the other week, Patrick Kielty as the green-faced Grinch who this time saved Christmas referenced the popular Jim Carrey film rather than the original book by the great Dr Seuss, otherwise Theodore Geisel.
This is a fine example of the almost total eclipse of the written word by the visual image. This has been a particular feature, of course, of the internet universe in which young people live today.
This trend has raised concerns among educators in both Europe, North America, and Australia. Reading levels have been falling, and with them comprehension, which affect not just education, but all aspects of life. If the rising generations can do without the written word, what is the future, not just of the book, but of newspapers, magazines, and even, dare one say it, the Bible?
The way to counter this is an increased effort to get children to give up their phones for at least a significant part of their days and nights, and to get back into the family’s shelves of books (if such still exist), bookshops and libraries.
Yet a visit to a book shop these days in search of children’s books can be a very dissipating experience for many adults. Where you ask yourself are the classic books of the past, and where too are the books one enjoyed in one’s own childhood. Around one are books derived from the world of the internet and films, a mass of short-lived verbiage.
For myself, it is hard to imagine a childhood that is deprived of Robinson Crusoe, Treasure Island, Kidnapped, The Children of the New Forest, Little Women, Anne of Green Gables, Heidi, Madeline … I could go on.
Why, I often wonder, do Irish publishers, of which there are a great many more than there were back in the 1950s and 1960s, insist on the constant production of new books without making a serious attempt of any kind to keep in print older Irish classics for children.
Here I am thinking of Patricia Lynch (otherwise Mrs R. M. Fox) who seems to have disappeared from sight completely. The is also Eilish Dillon, whose children seem to be better known today than their mother. Left a window at an early age she wrote to support her family, and her books were widely enjoyed. Patricia Lynch was published by Dent in London, Eilish Dillon mostly by Faber and Faber, also in London.
The days of London production of Irish children books are limited. But it is a challenge to Irish firms to reverse this situation. All too often they speak about copyright difficulties. That translates as a notion that they should be able to print older books without the usual arrangements for royalties to the authors, or rather the authors’ estates.
I think too that libraries in this respect, with their stores of often unread books, might give greater prominence to such Irish classics.
As I say, we are told the problem of children fixated on their phones is reducing not just their reading span, but the range of interests among the rising generations. Perhaps “Put away your phone or games console and read a book” ought to be the rallying call for the New Year.
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Where to buy religious books post-Veritas
With the closure of the Veritas shops across the island, the task of buying books with what a friend calls “a little bit of religion” is more daunting.
A selection of such books can, of course, be found in the national bookshops such as Eason’s, Dubray, and Hodges Figgis (now owned by Waterstones). But they are usually placed under the rubric of “Mind, Body, and Spirit”, and so have to share space with books on mind-fullness, esoterica, flying saucers and the occult. But if you try hard enough, you can find something like what you wanted to find, but there are few enough.
So a few fall back options may be worth noting.
One source where titles can be bought online, or indeed in person if you live near enough, is the Bookshop at Knock Shrine. Though far from urban centres it still delivers nationwide, and replicates some of the other services that Veritas used to supply.
There are also St Paul’s Books in Maynooth, near the university, in Letterkenny and now Derry. These carry over some of the people who used to work in old Veritas set up, so there is a small sense of continuity. Then there is the Dominican bookshop in Parnell Square, in Dublin. which is easily accessed.
However, many people want to find older books, of course. The best bookshops for finding second hand books are Chapters in Dublin’s Parnell Street – now alas much reduced in scale since it reopened. Further out, there is The Last Bookshop in Camden Street. But above and beyond all, Charlie Byrne’s Bookshop in Galway city is the premier resource for second-hand books of all kinds as well as new books – wonderful place.
It is striking that of all the supposed concentration of life and culture in the Dublin region, all these should be largely in the north and west of Ireland.
It is far better that people make use of Irish firms. Any independent book shop, such as those in which you buy your children’s schoolbooks and supplies, will be delighted to order any book in print for customers, though these days there may well be a delay due to the increasing difficulties of distribution.
Nor should you neglect the public library system, through which readers can borrow from the national stock, though they may again have to wait, as the number of copies held are now much reduced.
