Irish books of the year

How will little Gerda cope when Orlo dies? An invaluable picture book to talk about love, death and making lasting memories. 

Do you know what a peachick is? A funny rhyming picture book to share. 

A stunning collection of favourite nursery rhymes, songs and poems to treasure, perfect for reading aloud to a little one. 

The HooBoo bird is captured by a greedy king – what will happen to its magical song? A gorgeously illustrated modern fairy tale which explores themes of freedom and power. 

This gorgeous, adorable, and heartwarming picture book about the power of creativity and friendship is a lovely story, with sweet and beautifully detailed illustration.

An insightful book about creative, fizzy brains but also specifically children with ADHD, This That What presents a relatable heroine for many children who find focus difficult but have tremendous creative abilities. 

This lovely, colourful homage to the city of Belfast would make a fun story for any child visiting, or anyone that lives there and wants to learn about the special things in their city. Mixing local legends and celebrating proud landmarks, this is a super book. 

Nancy becomes the first and only storyteller for the Faery Kingdom. She tells them a series of magical tales that blend together in this vibrantly illustrated book – a great choice for bedtime stories.

Don’t Trust Fish is an absolute must read for any fan of humorous picture books. It’s an absolute hoot on every page, while also giving the reader some really quite interesting facts about fish.

This beautiful book explores five different environments in which to spot nocturnal life: a garden; woodland; countryside; heathland; and the sky. Informative and stylish, this is a book to treasure. 

Meep the robot is sent to Mars to search for aliens, but there are none to be seen. Littledoes she know, there are in fact hundreds of cheeky aliens just out of sight! A superbly illustrated space adventure. 

Dilly discovers she’s a Cloud Witch! But can she and her friends stop the suppression of magic on the island? A glorious magical adventure.

An exciting horror story inspired by Celtic mythology, that also explores friendship dynamics between boys.