Childrens’ books

Scruffy Bear and the Six White Mice, by Chris Wormell (Random House €13.03).

Wormell’s illustrations and simple stories are delightful. Bear meets six white mice, who are lost in the forest. Can Bear get them home safely? His ingenious, yet simple plan must deceive hungry creatures. A fun story for age 3+.

Kung Fu Panda 2 (Random House €5.92). This book of the Dreamworks movie character comes with 3D glasses to bring the hairy animal’s antics alive. Ideal. Age 5+.

Age 14: An Irish Boy Soldier, by Geert Spillebeen, translated by Terese Edelstein (Collins Press €5.59), tells the story of Patrick Condon of Ballybricken, Waterford, who joined the British army in 1913 by pretending to be his older brother, John. The story captures Ireland in the 1900s, and the poverty that young Patrick is intent on leaving. The journey to the front line and the horrors experienced by young men used as cannon fodder are graphically described, as Patrick loses comrades. Imagined ideas of glory are banished when the 14-year-old goes over the top to take on an enemy that has a new, lethal weapon — mustard gas. In a postscript, the author notes the irony of a Nobel Prize presentation to the inventor of mustard gas, and the fact that there are over 250,000 boy soldiers active today, mostly in Africa. A captivating, factual story for age 12+.

Fifty Fifty, by SL Powell (Piccadilly €8.35). Young Gil leads a troubled life. He can’t communicate with his scientist father, and he worries about his mother’s health. When he realises his father’s work involves experimentation on animals, he teams up with activist, Jude, to disrupt his father’s laboratory. Complications ensue when he realises some of the experiments are aimed at curing the dreadful condition which his mother may have inherited. This riveting story presents the animal rights argument — are we justified in overlooking the dignity of animals to find miracle cures?