Children’s Books

SAD-TO-HAPPY is always a satisfying story for the very young. A Busy day in Tinga Tinga (From the TV animation series, and published by Puffin; €10.10 HB) tells just such a story.

Elephant is puzzled and sad as to why all the animals and birds of the jungle have no time to talk to him. But all is revealed in the final big pull-out. With its palette of vivid colours, generous flaps to raise and highly decorative patterns, Elephant’s route to happiness is a captivating book-to-share for age two plus.

Young dog lovers will enjoy Happy Birthday, Sausage by Michaela Morgan (A&C Black; €12.60 HB). The two cats, Fitz and Spatz, are jealous of Sausage, Jack and Elly’s dog. When they hear plans are afoot for a birthday party for him, they hatch a nasty plot. All seems lost on the day of the party, but a chance discovery by the binman’s pooch saves the day. With good plot and colourful illustrations by Dee Shulman, this easy-to-hold bedtime book will delight five to seven year-olds.

With an introduction giving instructions on the correct way to kill a butterfly, the tone is set for gruesome things to follow in The Eyeball Collector by FE Higgins (Macmillan; €7.55), shortlisted for The Bisto Book of the Year Award. Twelve-year-old Hector Fitzbaudly lives with his lepidopterist father in comfort and elegance. All this changes when a one-eyed man named Gulliver Truepin calls late one night with blackmail in his heart – which ultimately causes the death of Hector’s father. Cheated of his home and heritage, he is taken into employment by Lady Lysandra Mandible, who is planning a butterfly event for her Midwinter Feast at Withypitts Hall. By a strange coincidence, her fawning companion, Baron Bovrik de Vandolin, turns out to be Gulliver Truepin – using Hector’s inheritance to up his status to ‘gentleman’. And so the wheels for Hector’s revenge are oiled and ready for the ensuing mayhem. This dark, artful story blends ghastly macabre seamlessly with tongue-in-cheek humour.