On World Book Day this year (2026), children had the chance to meet the fun, brave, imaginative young girl with the red hair, Rita. This isn’t the first book with Rita, a series which now boasts nine books in total: Rita agus an Díneasár (2017), Rita agus an Ninja (2017), Rita agus an Róbat (2017), Rita agus an Chailleach (2018), Rita agus an Fathach (2021), Rita agus an Lampa Draíochta (2021), Rita agus an tSíóg Mhaith (2022), Rita agus an Drágún (2023) and Rita agus an tEachtráin (2023). These books are very popular and were recently adapted for screen and broadcast on Cúla4 last year.
In this story, Rita thinks she would love to travel to another planet in a spaceship and have aliens as friends. She knows that aliens would upend her life and not everything would be easy: she would have to learn their language, try out their food and she would miss her family at home. She also contemplates how different life would be for the aliens if they were to visit her on Earth and thinks she would have to help them adjust. Rita does lots of funny things and the aliens do lots of funny (and revolting!) things, but we also see a softer side to the story as Rita empathises with her imaginary friends.
This is a lovely and simple story which follows the same pattern as the other books in the series: a little girl with a huge imagination wondering what kind of fun she would have, and challenges she would face, with various imaginary friends.
Máire Zepf has beautiful Ulster Irish and doesn’t waste a word – she says lots in one single sentence. Young children will particularly enjoy her word play as she composes the aliens’ language “binc bonc búúp zúp Rita bíc fosta!”
The illustrations by Mr Ando are perfect for the text as they are brightly coloured with thick lines and some comic-book style layout which really suits the style of the story. In the middle of the book, when Rita says the aliens would turn her world upside-down, readers have to turn the book upside down to read the parts in space! This clever feature provides a novel reading experience.
For the special World Book Day edition, the book keeps its square shape but is a smaller size which is easier for smaller hands to hold. There are two new pages at the end recommending how to pick your next book and develop reading habits.
This is an ideal story to get young imaginations running wild and is sure to entice and welcome readers into the wonderful world of Rita.
