Children’s books

An Gabhar A Raibh An-Ocras Go Deo Air,

Peadar is bored with trimming his vast lawn, so buys a hungry goat. This quickly backfires as the goat insatiably clears the garden of everything, eating the clothes on the line and the house carpets and the thatch. Peadar soon realises that there are no shortcuts in life. Each misadventure is delicately captured by Natasha Rimmington’s illustrations. Delightful story, for readers age six and upwards.

The Awesome Book Of Awesomeness, by Adam Frost (Bloomsbury; €8.80) This is a book of weird ‘facts’. The highest wave recorded would top The Empire State Building by 80 metres. Downpours of frogs, spiders, golf-balls, and even pennies are recounted, as is the amount of snot a human swallows daily. Lightning struck park ranger, Roy Sullivan, seven times non-fatally, and, on the eighth strike, while he was hanging out clothes, it narrowly missed him, but struck his wife. Loads for the young, enquiring mind. For readers age eight and up.