Reviews

Readers both young and old will recognise the cute lamb Eoinín from the popular series which now features five books. This is the fourth book in the series, published in 2024, it made the shortlist for the KPMG Children’s Books Ireland Award in 2025. It is no surprise that this book is receiving such recognition and praise between the fun storytelling and gorgeous illustrations.

This story starts in 1914 and focuses on the young man Maitiú Mac Suibhne from Gaeltacht Chloich Chionnaola in Donegal. He works as a gardener in the local “big house” and himself and his friend Domhnall Ó Gallchóir enlist to fight with the British Army in the Great War.

This is a translation of one of the best-known Greek Tragedies, Medea, by the tragedian Euripides. Here it has been translated to Irish by Simon Ó Faoláin with illustrations from artist Dómhnal Ó Bric and published by Coiscéim. 

August 1936 and there is civil war in Spain, where teenage Alejo (14) lives with his family. They are forced to flee from their home to seek refuge as Franco’s forces strengthen with support from Mussolini and Hitler. From the beginning of this journey, they are hit with every imaginable hardship and we get to know Alejo and appreciate his brave personality. 

Although Róise Ní Bhaoill has been writing poetry for a long time, this is her first published collection. It is a comprehensive, generous collection with over sixty poems. She is a renowned and celebrated writer and her collection of short stories, Imram agus Scéalta Eile, won the An Post award for Irish language book of the year in 2023. Rann na Feirste and Béal Feirste are the two ‘fearsaids’ or fords that are mentioned in the title: the former being the author’s birthplace and the latter being where she has lived for over twenty years. These two places certainly influence this collection, but there are many other themes addressed also. 

While there were six books in the original Scott Pilgrim series by Bryan Lee O’Malley, the content of those books has now been condensed into three books in this Irish language edition which has been translated by Seanán Ó Coistín.

This is the fourth detective story from the series by Anna Heussaff where we meet with two main characters Aoife Nic Dhiarmada and Garda Réamonn Seoighe. It follows on from Bás Tobann (2004), Buille Marfach (2010) and Scáil an Phríosúin (2015). While all the stories feature the same two main characters and the same two locations of Dublin and the Beara Peninsula, they can be read as stand-alone books as well.

Children will themselves be ‘buzzing’ after this gorgeous, lively and entertaining read! We go on a journey around the garden with Billí Beach, the busiest bee in the country as he travels from flower to flower collecting nectar to bring to the beehive.