Children’s books reviews: Dinosaur-changing pies, mysteries and a fairy-tale tour of Cork

Pet O'Connell rounds up a selection of books for little ones to teens

Jen Wallace, aided by Alan O’Rourke’s expressive illustrations, succeeds in tapping into the obsession many children have with dinosaurs by imagining how it might feel to become a real-life Deinonychus.

Dinosaur Pie by Jen Wallace (Little Island, €9.99)

Rory, sometimes known as Roary Rory, is accustomed to glitches. This is how they can feel: “Words are bashing and bumping around my brain. They have sharp edges … I clutch my head and stomp my feet hard on the floor. I need to run away. I need to scream.” 

He often gets overwhelmed, having ADHD — or Amazing Dynamic Hyper Disposition, as his ever-positive Mum calls it. 

When younger, Rory renamed himself Alex Danger, Human Dynamo, but when stressed he now refers to it as Annoying Dopey Huge Difference.

None of this, however, can prepare Rory for the far more annoyingly huge difference he now discovers when he wakes up to find he has turned into a dinosaur.

Yep. Scaly legs, feathered wing-like arms, huge teeth, but all Rory can say about his sudden transformation is “graagh!”

Could it have anything to do with the dinosaur pie he had for dinner? The one bought on special offer in BuyMart in Cork by his Mum, who forgot to check the small print on the ingredients label?

Certain foods can have a strange effect on people, but this is ridiculous: Poor Rory can’t use the toilet, can’t fit into his own bed, and worst of all, he can’t use his computer to play ‘Big Battle World’.

His mates accept the changed Rory pretty readily (once he remembers to follow the new no-eating-friends rule); in fact one of them is so impressed that her first reaction is to ask if there is any more dinosaur pie available.

Rory has developed super-sharp predator senses, plus an insatiable desire for sausages, but he soon gets tired of having big clumsy claws, a swishy tail, and bad breath.

The supermarket refuses to accept any culpability and there’s a wait for a doctor’s appointment so the friends, with the passive assistance of Lex, a goth who talks to trees, take matters into their own hands/claws. 

Have people all over Cork eaten these infected pies and if so, could there be a herd of kindred-spirit dinosaurs present in the city?

Jen Wallace, aided by Alan O’Rourke’s expressive illustrations, succeeds in tapping into the obsession many children have with dinosaurs by imagining how it might feel to become a real-life Deinonychus.

Through Rory’s eyes, the Cork author — who was diagnosed with ADHD and autism later in life than the self-aware central character of her debut children’s book — also enables readers aged six-plus to view the world in a different way.

What began as a ploy to persuade her own children to eat their dinner by calling it ‘dinosaur pie’ has evolved into a book, populated by a cast of neurodivergent characters, which entertains and enlightens in equal measure.

The Case of the Vanishing Painting by Brian Gallagher (O’Brien Press, €9.99)

Deirdre Kavanagh is prepared to take whatever risks are necessary in order to clear her father’s name.

As this detective mystery opens in 1911, Deirdre has broken into a swanky house in Dublin’s Iona Rd and is scouring the owner’s study for incriminating documents.

The stakes are high, because should the housekeeper return and 12-year-old Deirdre be caught red-handed, her father’s already dire situation would become infinitely worse.

Brendan Kavanagh, father of twins Deirdre and Tim, works for the Midland Great Western Railway and was the guard on a train transporting paintings to Dublin when the most valuable of the artworks was reported missing. 

He and other staff have been questioned by police, and though those close to Mr Kavanagh refuse to believe he could have been involved, a cloud of suspicion now hangs over him.

Class snobbery comes into play and Joe Martin, who is a close friend of the Kavanagh children, is astonished when his father, a white-collar worker at the railway, advises him not to be seen with Tim Kavanagh until any doubts over Tim’s father’s innocence have been removed.

Joe, who deplores the class distinctions which see general workers like Mr Kavanagh allocated a small terraced house while his own father gets one of ostentatiously grander design, senses an injustice and determines to help clear Mr Kavanagh’s name.

Brian Gallagher sets this fast-flowing mystery in his home city of Dublin and surrounds, threading the Holmes and Watson-style sleuthing with themes of friendship, grief, and loyalty. Picture: City Headshots Dublin

The police are under pressure to make an arrest for the high-profile theft and assume that one of the railway staff working on the train at the time must be the culprit.

A fan of Sherlock Holmes, Joe takes a leaf out of the fictional detective’s book and goes by the maxim “when you rule out the impossible, then whatever you’re left with must be the truth, however unlikely it seems”.

He questions the police assumption that the painting was stolen while the train was in motion, and asks whether the “highly respectable” person who reported the crime might not himself be a suspect worthy of investigation.

He and the Kavanagh twins become child detectives, with Deirdre taking on the job of sneaking into the house of their chief suspect and searching his appointments diary for clues about his activities.

Suspense builds as the housekeeper returns, unwittingly trapping Deirdre inside the house in a scene of high tension. 

It acts as a precursor to the children’s brushes with more serious dangers — and some extremely unpleasant baddies — as what started as an escapade behind their parents’ backs turns into life-threatening drama.

Brian Gallagher, author of children’s historical fiction including Across the Divide and Secrets and Shadows, sets this fast-flowing mystery in his home city of Dublin and surrounds, threading the Holmes and Watson-style sleuthing with themes of friendship, grief, and loyalty.

A Cork Fairytale by Amy Louise O’Callaghan (O’Brien, €12.99)

Goldilocks is something of an expert on judging when things are “just right”, so who better to advise the Three Bears on choosing birthday gifts for their friend?

Sensibly depriving her of another opportunity to sneak into their house and start stealing food or breaking furniture, the bears take the child with them on a shopping trip around Cork.

First walking through the grounds of UCC, alma mater of digital illustrator and debut author Amy Louise O’Callaghan, Goldilocks and the Three Bears take the scenic route through Fitzgerald Park, over the shakey bridge, into Shandon, and down to the Everyman to purchase panto tickets.

Amy Louise O’Callaghan’s ‘A Cork Fairytale’ is a modern take on the well-known tale of Goldilocks and the Three Bears.

The bears join a newspaper seller in shouting ‘Echo’ outside the GPO, en-route to the English Market to select a suitable cake for their special friend, who unlike the reader has not yet guessed that she is both gift adviser and intended recipient.

They manage to pack in a whistle-stop tour of Blackrock Castle Observatory, Blarney Castle, and a boat trip from Cobh in a Cork birthday marathon which is truly the stuff of fairytales.