Children’s book reviews: New colours for classic tales and letting go of the ghosts of the past

A magnetic bond with the unknown and an engrossing guide into Ireland’s animals succeed in finding their way into the second of Pet O’Connell’s Children’s books Christmas round up

The Waters and the Wild by Eilish Fisher (Puffin, €24.65)

Rowan’s father often told her stories by the fireside about the Sídhe and the Otherworld; how they co-existed largely unnoticed alongside human society.

She always thought they were only stories. Now she’s not so sure.

The tales she loved listening to in the heat of the Arizona desert, where she grew up, have assumed a more palpable meaning since she and her mother came to her father’s home town in Ireland for his funeral — and never left.

Rowan knows there is something amiss. It’s not just her grief, not just the move from dry heat to a cold, damp climate. 

Their house is freezing, even in the middle of summer, and the electrical appliances appear to be possessed, the light switches and kettle turning on by themselves.

The town itself is equally strange, though its inhabitants see no cause for alarm and quietly accept that church bells chime where no bells exist, and children’s voices can be heard in an empty playground.

The biggest mystery though, concerns the wall surrounding the town; one which the locals are constantly repairing. What or who are they so anxious to keep in — or out?

Eventually, curiosity gets the better of Rowan and when she spots a crack in the stonework, she plucks up the courage to explore the woods on the other side of the wall.

The friend who reluctantly agrees to accompany her is petrified, but as Rowan walks out into warmth and sunshine, she rediscovers the happiness missing from her world since her father’s death. 

Better yet is the giant, gentle horse she encounters and the bond she immediately feels with the animal, drawing her back again and again into the woods and leading her deeper inside, despite the warnings of the townspeople.

She ignores their counsel; ignores the voices whispering around her in the woods; ignores all she has been told about the Sídhe, and her own senses telling her she should run away as fast as possible. 

Rowan senses a warm familiarity on the far side of the wall, and longs to stay there forever.

A new twist on tradition and Irish mythology from Wicklow’s Eilish Fisher, author of Fia and the Last Snow Deer, this lyrical ‘fairy’ tale in verse form, with atmospheric illustrations by David Rooney, is a story of grief and learning to let go of the ghosts of the past.

With the wall both a physical and metaphorical barrier to that release, Fisher examines how fear causes people to build protective structures around themselves that can become a block to healing, until the power of love manages to break through the barricades.

Animalopedia by Kathi and John Burke (Gill Books, €24.99)

Eight years after their last literary collaboration, Waterford father-daughter team John and Kathi ‘Fatti’ Burke are back with a giant-size Irish guide to all creatures great and small.

Enormous enough to encompass whales, wolfhounds, deer, horses … even a forest, this, like Irelandopedia, Historopedia, and Foclóiropedia, is a big book bursting with Kathi’s bright and beautiful illustrations, coupled with fascinating facts from her retired school principal father John.

His nuggets of knowledge on wildlife are fite fuaite with Irish language and folklore, so alongside information on owl species, for example, we learn how their cries were once feared to be bad omens, none more spooky than the aptly-named scréachóg reilige or ‘graveyard screecher’, the barn owl.

While a weevil as Gaeilge is a gobachán, confusion could ensue over the notion of a woodlouse as a national symbol of Ireland, ‘cláirseach’ being the Irish both for the harp and for woodlice or ‘fat pigs’.

The Burkes also introduce non-Déise readers to the delightful Waterford word for snail, ‘shellakybooky’, arguably a corruption of the Irish words seilide na bpúcaí.

Púcaí, of the shape-shifting, non-slimy variety, also make a somewhat unexpected appearance, showing up between pages on goats and deer as if they too were animals spotted daily in the Irish countryside.

And perhaps, as Eilish Fisher would have us believe, they are… Irelandopedia, the Burkes’ original compendium of Irish knowledge, has also been re-released in a 10th anniversary edition, updated to include a new selection of celebrated citizens such as Rhasidat Adeleke, Kneecap, and, on its Cork pages, Cillian Murphy.

The Grand Central Cinema Club by Alan Nolan (O’Brien Press, €9.99)

For film fans, the 1930s was a golden age; and in Dublin, with nearly 60 cinemas to choose from, children crammed in by the score every Saturday morning to see the latest cartoons, westerns, newsreels, and feature films.

For just a few pennies earned from newspaper-selling, or by trading in empty jam jars as payment at the box office, youngsters had endless cheap entertainment and a social meeting place, often in plush surroundings.

This melting-pot mixture, cutting across class divides, provides the setting for Alan Nolan’s story of friendship, film, and fun; as well-to-do Sylvie and tenement children Jem and Juno find common ground in their shared love of movies.

Inspired by their Hollywood heroes, the trio and friends create their own cinema club, with a view to making and starring in their own film. 

Real-life action comes their way though, when Juno breaks a leg, precipitating a daring plan to hijack a movie reel on the eve of its Dublin premiere and screen it for her in hospital.

Meanwhile, a stealthy jewel thief, the notorious Magpie, has his beady eye on a Dublin heist and in Laurel-and-Hardy style, everyone and everything converges as this cinematic caper for readers aged nine-plus hurtles towards a chaotic crescendo.

Oscar Wilde’s Stories for Children, illustrated by Lauren O’Hara (Little Island, €25)

Some of Oscar Wilde’s stories seem designed to be read aloud, Colm Tóibín notes is his foreword to Little Island’s new edition, referencing these words from The Happy Prince: 

“He was gilded all over with thin leaves of fine gold, for eyes he had two bright sapphires, and a large red ruby glowed on his sword-hilt.”

At times, Tóibín adds, “it seems as if an entire paragraph in a story was created by Wilde not only to bring a moment alive, but to inspire the illustrator”.

More than 130 years after their first publication, Wilde’s words have inspired Dublin-based Lauren O’Hara’s delicate hand-painted illustrations, which brush new colour into six of the playwright’s children’s stories, including The Nightingale and the Rose and The Selfish Giant.

At a time when so many publishers utilise the quick and easy option of computer-generated images for children’s books, this gift edition — with intricate page borders and a font derived from an early 20th century Stephenson Blake typeface, housed in the National Print Museum — pays welcome attention to every detail in reinvigorating Wilde’s well-loved tales for readers of all ages.

BOOKS & MORE

Check out our Books Hub where you will find the latest news, reviews, features, opinions and analysis on all things books from the Irish Examiner's team of specialist writers, columnists and contributors.