Little Island Books

It’s show and tell at school, and every student is excited to introduce their friends to their favourite object from home. Well, everyone except Sonny, who isn’t really sure he has anything that interesting to bring to class. It is only in the horse-drawn wagon with his uncle Jim, on the way to the horse fair, that Sonny realizes the wealth of traditions in his community: from ancestral tin-smithing knowledge passed down through generations, to the beautiful stories shared around the fire camp while looking at the intricate patterns of constellations.

Sedgwick tells the story of Libby, her best friend Wulfie, her absent-minded dad, her evil stepmother Veronika and her horrible stepbrother Rex. Wulfie is a magical creature that looks like a dog with purple fur and yellow eyes. He has amazing supernatural powers such as the ability to stop time when he sneezes or to smell like honey and marshmallows. Veronika and Rex love to make Libby’s and Wulfie’s life a misery.

Sedgwick tells the story of Libby, her best friend Wulfie, her absent-minded dad, her evil stepmother Veronika and her horrible stepbrother Rex. Wulfie is a magical creature that looks like a dog with purple fur and yellow eyes. He has amazing supernatural powers such as the ability to stop time when he sneezes or to smell like honey and marshmallows. Veronika and Rex love to make Libby’s and Wulfie’s life a misery.

Run For Your Life begins with a dedication to young people living in Direct Provision in Ireland. The story is narrated by central protagonist Azari, and is split between her past life, before she became a refugee, and her present life in Ireland. The transitions between the two are seamless, leaving the reader constantly wanting to know what will happen next.

Immy is haunted by all the lives she has lived; they clamour in the back of her mind, crying out for attention, crying for the person she was a hundred, maybe a thousand years ago. But Immy is trying to live in the here and now, and she’s falling in love. She has been in love before, of course, but never like this.

There’s a lot going on in Dan’s life – writing songs, finishing primary school, keeping an eye on the unworthy boy who’s making the moves on his sister Kit, and chasing after his younger brother, Joe, when he escapes from the house. Joe has special needs, and the whole family do their part to take care of him, keeping all of them happily busy. Until Kit and his parents go to Italy for a wedding, leaving Dan and Joe with their headstrong Granny, who doesn’t quite understand just how much work looking after Joe can be.

Writing a dystopian world that is laugh-out-loud funny is no mean feat, but to create such an environment for young readers is nothing short of extraordinary. John Hearne manages this with deftness in The Very Dangerous Sisters of Indigo McCloud. Indigo finds himself the unwilling hero of the tale, battling against his formidably vindictive sisters as they terrorise the town of Blunt and monopolise income from door-to-door calendar sales. His quest to stop them from harming dissenters is dramatic, absurd, and absolutely compelling.

John Chambers’ latest book chronicles the mad-cap adventures of Manchán, a young boy who loves mucking around in medieval Ireland. Truly horrified at the idea that his mother wants him to become a monk, Manchán would much rather spend his time getting into scrapes with Muck his pig and his best friend Pagan-of-the-Six-Toes.

This poignant, wordless picturebook from Mauricio Negro takes a playful, yet thought-provoking look at ethnicity and colour. Reminiscent of Arga Gra’s poem ‘And you call me coloured’, Colour of People reminds us that, regardless of colour or ethnicity, we all fall ill, get hungry, feel pain, and experience happiness. The central message of the book focuses on a basic truth about the human condition: we are all different, yet we are all the same. This message is particularly evident in the final illustrations of the book.

No one likes feeling ill, having to visit a doctor or stay in hospital, so this collection of funny, informative poems is like medicine for the reluctant patient. From the cosiness of your bed when you are sick, to parents’ care and humour when a little person in is hospital, Latvian poet Zandere gently deals with all aspects of being poorly. Reimagined by Cullen, medical procedures are deconstructed and simplified so that worries and fears can be seen from a child’s point of view.