Children’s books
The Gates by John Connolly (Hodder and Stoughton; €7.55) is on the shortlist for the Bisto Book Awards. When we meet a main character called Samuel Johnson, a dog named Boswell, and neighbours living at number 666, it’s obvious that the byword will be “tongue in cheek”. When the Hadron Collider opens a chink in the portal near the gates of hell, this is exploited fully by hilarious demons during a séance at the home of the Abernathy family. It bounces along at frantic pace as Samuel strives to convince the adult world of the dangers facing it, while at the same time there is a plethora of witty and informative footnotes, some of which, however, do tend to distract from what is a very funny story. Ages 10-12.
Also on the Bisto shortlist is Colm and the Lazarus Key by Kieran Mark Crowley (Mercier; €8.99). This, too, has its share of ghouls, with a gangster thrown into the mix. When 11-year-old Colm’s older, bullying cousin, aptly named The Brute, is foisted on the family for a holiday, Colm is not pleased. Booking into an isolated hotel, where they are the only guests, is the start of a ghastly whirl of alarming events, involving a scary Book of Dread and a girl called Lauryn. Meanwhile, private detective Cedric Murphy and his mouthy assistant Kate have been given 12 hours by an arch criminal to find A Certain Man. With three layers of narrative binding the story, this is a funny, laugh-aloud book. The characters and the witty exchanges keep the plot buoyant, but the old ‘teasing the reader with a non-ending’ is less satisfying. Suitable for ages 10-12.
