Recommended children's booklists sorted by age or topic

Publisher: Little Island

Oscar Wilde’s Stories for Children

Short story collection

Introduce a new generation to Oscar Wilde’s classic children’s tales with this stunningly illustrated luxury gift edition – a must-have gift book for young readers.

Oscar Wilde has enchanted readers young and old alike for over a hundred years. In 1888, he published a collection of bedtime stories for children. This beautiful collection contains six of these classic tales, including ‘The Happy Prince’, ‘The Selfish Giant’, and ‘The Nightingale and the Rose’.

For the first time, these beloved stories from the great Irish queer author are being published in a major new edition by an Irish publisher. With high-quality paper, a linen-effect cover, gold foil details, ribbon bookmark and classic binding touches, this keepsake hardback edition, printed and bound in Italy, is crafted to be treasured and shared.

Feeling both classic and fresh, timeless and modern, Lauren O’Hara’s delicate, rich colour illustrations bring this cornerstone of children’s literature to life for readers of all ages.

Making It Up As You Go Along

Mary Murphy & Patricia Forde

Non-fiction

Learn how to write stories from Laureate na nÓg (Ireland’s children’s literature laureate) and bestselling author of The Wordsmith, Patricia Forde.

In this fun and practical illustrated guide, young writers can learn from some of Ireland’s most beloved authors, including Eoin Colfer (Artemis Fowl) Catherine Doyle (Twin Crowns), Pádraig Kenny (Stitch) and Derek Landy (Skullduggery Pleasant), and discover how to:
Find inspiration to start your story
Craft and develop twisty plots
Create brilliant characters
Build spectacular new worlds
Also includes imaginative exercises, accessible explanations of writing terms and engaging illustrations by beloved Irish artist Mary Murphy.

Solo

Grainne O’Brien

Poetry, Verse novel

A novel in verse about teenage love and friendships, lost and found.

Daisy can feel like a solo act at home. On the outside of her twin brothers’ intense relationship, she leans towards her parents, particularly her father, for support. As a passionate classical musician, she is not wildly popular at
school, but she has one close friend and a life filled with musical performance. Her life is turned upside down when her boyfriend suddenly breaks up with her, and Daisy is left disconnected from her one true love, music.

When she makes a new friend at school, mysterious Flora, Daisy finds a glimmer of peace in her chaotic life. Just as everything seems to be getting better, they all fall apart. Family tensions heighten as Daisy’s dad falls ill and
Daisy needs to decide should she find her way back to who she was or look towards who she is going to become.

The Brightest Star

Meg Grehan

Poetry, Verse novel

Follow-up to the award-winning The Deepest Breath. A warm and sensitive dual narrator LGBTQ+ story.

Stevie is about to start secondary school. She often feels anxious, but feels much better having her two best friends, Chloe and Andrew, by her side.Their new school is filled with excitement, like the LGBTQIA+ club, but also challenges, such as math class. The biggest challenge of all though comes when Andrew suddenly becomes distant. Andrew isn’t quite sure who he is yet. This didn’t matter much before, especially when he was hanging out with Stevie and Chloe. Now it seems to matter very much indeed, but he doesn’t know how to begin talking about it with his friends, who seem to be much clearer about who they are.

Let’s Play Rugby!

Ashwin Chacko & Gordon D’Arcy & Paul Howard

Picturebook

Hands-on and fully interactive, Let’s Play Rugby! encourages all kids to give rugby a go – in their bedrooms, living-rooms and gardens. This book puts the young reader in the boots of a rugby player as they play in the big final!

Jog on the spot! Do some star jumps! Then face off against your opponents in the game of your life.

This fully illustrated picture book is one for children and parents to tackle together.

Black & Irish

Briana Fitzsimons & Jessica Louis & Leon Diop

Non-fiction

Covering historic and current figures from the worlds of the arts, sport, business, politics and social activism, Black and Irish will also find space to celebrate everyday heroes-lesser known figures making a difference in Irish communities today.

The Best Medicine

Christine Hamill

Chapter book

I love Christine Hamill’s writing. Her book B is for Breast Cancer is a non-fiction work for adults based on her own experiences. The Best Medicine is a middle grade fiction book about twelve-year-old Philip who writes hilarious letters to his hero, Harry Hill, looking for advice to help him achieve his goal of becoming a comedian. But Philip’s life is interrupted when his mum gets breast cancer. What follows is a story which is heart-warming, uplifting, moving and also very funny.