Children’s Books: How The Library (Not The Prince) Saved Rapunzel

How The Library (Not The Prince) Saved Rapunzel by Wendy Meddour and Rebecca Ashdown (Frances Lincoln; €15.10 HB). 

This modern-day Rapunzel lives on the 16th floor of a skyscraper. Her boring days are spent leaning out the window and sighing. Many people from below try to help her, to no avail. Even the prince on his scooter doesn’t get her to budge as she becomes more and more dismal. Will she ever leave her tower, find happiness, and do something about that hair? With bouncy verse and fun illustrations, this is a delightful book for age six and upwards.

The Silly Book of Side-Splitting Stuff by Andy Seed (Bloomsbury; €7.55). This achieves its dual purpose, to amuse the reader while imparting extraordinary snippets about both the famous and the infamous. Leonardo da Vinci’s inflated shoes for walking on water sunk without trace, while Thomas Edison’s offer to construct a concrete piano unsurprisingly was not taken up. The book’s register of silly place names is particularly hilarious. imagine living near lake Hen Poo, or on Whip-Ma-Whop-Ma-Gate Street, or beside Booby Dingle — all blushingly not trying to draw attention to themselves somewhere in Britain. Kids will love this irreverent little book. Suitable for age eight and upwards.