Books for Children

When Betsy came to Babysit by Elizabeth Dale, illustrated by Zoe Waring.

The new babysitter makes the fatal mistake of telling her two charges she knows nothing about babysitting. The mischievous youngsters tell her all the activities — swinging on the clothesline, making a cake, washing the cat — that are part of babysitting. Is Betsy as foolish as they think? A fun read-aloud for age four and upwards.

Where She Went by Gayle Forman (Random House; €13.03). This sequel to If I Stay charts the next three years in the lives of Mia and Adam, who have gone their separate ways to stardom in their vastly different musical careers. It was Adam who had sat by the comatose Mia’s bed as she hovered between life and death, and whose whispered urgings had seemed to make her “choose” to live. When their paths cross years later in the sequel, it is time for them to unravel how their relationship had disintegrated, much to the dismay and puzzlement of well-meaning Adam. An interesting study of relationships where celebrity careers and romance can be a troublesome mix and, in this case, exacerbated by an overdose of pity.