Pan MacMillan

Haddow’s picturebook explores a young boy’s relationship with his lioness-like mother. The story takes us on a journey of his day-to-day life in the world of this loud and proud woman and her interactions with her son, their family and community. At first it would appear that the boy is a little bit afraid of his mum, but this turns out to be very far from the case. As things unfold it becomes clear why she takes on the form of a lioness in this young boy’s mind: she is fierce and brave and, most importantly, incredibly loving.

Author Sam Sedgman dedicates Epic Adventures to his parents, who taught him ‘to travel.’ This is an apt dedication because Sedgman's love for travel and adventure permeates this beautifully illustrated, informative book.

The book invites its reader to take epic train journeys across six continents and thirty-four countries, stopping off at several cities along the way. Sam Brewster's detailed illustrations set alongside plenty of interesting facts will leave readers of all ages pouring over the pages. This is a book that readers are likely to want to return to repeatedly.

Every librarian will love this book. Not only is this book about a wolf who loves books and his library, it also rhymes and flows perfectly for reading out loud to young children. It is a good story made for reading to groups and has a positive message. Children will share Wolf’s realisation and his disappointment that he doesn’t fit nor like the traditional fearsome wolf image. Why can’t he be like the heroes that he admires so much?

The Monsters of Rookhaven won the 2021 KPMG Children’s Books Ireland Honour Award for Fiction. The Shadows of Rookhaven is a well-crafted sequel that explores themes of family, belonging, loss, and difference. We first meet Billy in the human world where, as a misbegotten, he is an outcast. He lives with the Catchpoles, who are not human, and he has taken Meg, another outcast, under his wing. When this unlikely family unit is captured, and Meg’s safety is threatened, Billy agrees to their captors’ demands so that he can save her.

The Lotterys More or Less is Donoghue’s second book about the four-parent, seven-kid modern family, also known as the Lotterys. Donoghue returns to visit nine-year-old Sumac and her eclectic mix of ‘sibs’, parents, rescued pets and grumpy old Grumps, who has settled in nicely.

Mirabelle lives with her unusual family in Rookhaven. She and her family are, to put it simply, monsters. They live in a mansion, hidden away (thanks to a protection spell) from the outside world of humans. However, the nearby village and the Rookhaven monsters maintain a generations old truce: the townsfolk will keep the monsters’ existence a secret, if the monsters promise to never enter the town or hurt one of the humans. However, one night, out-of-towners and runaway siblings, Jem and Tom, accidentally find their way into Rookhaven territory…

In this wonderful collection of poetry, chosen and illustrated by Chris Riddell, the line drawings wrap around the poems, almost as if they were drawn personally into your copy in pencil after the words were printed, with their intertwined nature ensuring the illustrations and the words are consumed as a unit.