KPMG Children's Books Ireland Books of the Year 2024 Predictions

 Every year I try to predict the shortlist for the KPMG Children’s Books Ireland Books of the Year shortlist. The 2024 Awards are given to books published in 2023 by Irish writers or illustrators, or those living and working in Ireland. These are based on my reading over the year and are my own personal view. I have read all the titles below and greatly enjoyed them all.

It was an outstanding year for middle grade (age 9+), teen and YA. Here are my predictions:

1/ Catfish Rolling by Clara Kumagai

Also my prediction for the first novel award – Eilís Dillon Award

2/ Standing on One Leg is Hard by Erika McGann and Clive McFarland

3/ The Slug and the Snail by Oein DeBhairduin, illustrated by Olya Anima 

4/ Wider Than the Sea by Serena Molloy

5/ The Silver Road by Sinéad O’Hart

6/ The Girl Who Fell to Earth by Patricia Forde

7/ Global by Eoin Colfer and Andrew Donkin, illustrated by Giovanni Rigano

8/ Freya Harte is Not a Puzzle by Méabh Collins

9/ Grapefruit Moon by Shirley McMillan

10/ Wise Creatures by Deirdre Sullivan

11/ What Walks These Halls by Amy Clarkin

12/ The First Move by Jenny Ireland

13/ Three Tasks for a Dragon by Eoin Colfer, illustrated by P J Lynch

14/ Gods Don’t Cry: Unsung Stories of Ireland’s Forgotten Immortals by Ellen Ryan, illustrated by Conor Merriman

15/ Black and Irish: Legends, Trailblazers and Everyday Heroes by Leon Diop and Briana Fitzsimons, illustrated by Jessica Louis

 Books I’d also love to see on the shortlist:

Kevin’s in a Mood by Sarah Bowie

Milly McCarthy is a Complete Catastrophe by Leona Forde, illustrated by Karen Harte

The Wishkeeper’s Apprentice by Rachel Chivers Khoo, illustrated by Rachel Sanson

Sally in the City of Dreams by Judi Curtin

A Game of Life and Death by Triona Campbell

 There will also be some Irish language books on the list but my Irish isn’t strong enough to review the merits of those titles (yet!).

 Best of luck to all those who published books in 2023!

The shortlist will be announced by CBI on 7th Feb at 11am - watch the shortlisting ceremony here.

The KPMG Children's Books Ireland Awards 2021 (books from 2020)

The KPMG Children’s Books Ireland Awards shortlist will be announced next week - Tues 9th March. For more on the awards see here.

Here are the titles I think will be shortlisted. I do this some years, just for fun! Let’s see how many I get right.

My tip for book of the year - The Monsters of Rookhaven by Pádaig Kenny or On Midnight Beach by Marie-Louise Fitzpatrick - both remarkable books.

My predictions for the shortlist:

1/ Would You Like a Banana? by Yasmeen Ismail - for it’s vibrant artwork and clever story for young readers.

2/ Only a Tree Knows How to Be a Tree by Mary Murphy - Murphy’s book is deceptively simple and her illustrations are joyful and and full of wonder.

3/ What We’ll Build by Oliver Jeffers - Jeffers is a world class picturebook writer/illustrator and this one is another winner.

4/ Elsetime by Eve McDonnell (Eilis Dillon Award?)

5/ The Monsters of Rookhaven by Pádraig Kenny, illustrated by Edward Bettison - this is my book of the year - it MUST be shortlisted or there is no justice!

6/ The Gone Book by Helena Close - really strong YA novel.

7/ Why the Moon Travels by Oein DeBharduin, illustrated by Leanne McDonagh - beautifully written Traveller tales - one of my favourite books of the year.

8/ On Midnight Beach by Marie-Louise Fitzpatrick - one of the best YA novels of 2020 - another MUST!

9/ Savage Her Reply by Deirdre Sullivan, illustrated by Karen Vaughan - simply stunning.

10/ Míp by Máire Zept and Paddy Donnelly - a terrific picturebook with strong text and wonderful illustrations.

Others that might be shortlisted:

Chasing Ghosts by Nicola Pierce - a really story historical novel with some great writing.

Queen of Coin and Whispers by Helen Corcoran (Eilis Dillon Award)

Songs for Our Sons by Ruth Doyle and Alison Lindsay

Geansaí Ottó by Sadhbh Devlin and Róisín Hahessy

To the Island by Patricia Forde and Nicola Bernadelli

The Great Irish Farm Book by Darrah McCoullough, illustrated by Saly Caulwell

The Boldness of Betty by Anna Carey

While We Can’t Hug by Eoin McLaughlin and Polly Dunbar

Have You Seen the Dublin Vampire? by Úna Woods (Eilis Dillon Award?)

The Dead Zoo by Peter Donnelly

The Haunted Lake by P J Lynch

Irish Fairy Tales by Kieran Fanning

Break the Mould by Sinéad Burke, illustrated by Natalie Byrne

Spring 2016 Children's and Teen Highlights

This piece originally appeared in the Sunday Independent. This year looks all set to be a stellar one for children’s books and Irish YA in particular will blaze a trail in 2016. There are new titles from ‘brand names’ such as Julia Donaldson, Eoin Colfer and Derek Landy, plenty of interesting debuts, and some intriguing books from ‘grown up’ bestsellers, Cecelia Ahern and Sheila O’Flanagan.

crystal run

The current Children’s Laureate, Eoin Colfer’s Ironman novel for children is due in the autumn from Marvel. According to Colfer, the billionaire playboy Tony Stark is all set to get the ‘Dublin treatment’. Penguin Random House Children’s lead title this spring is Dave Rudden’s The Knights of the Borrowed Dark (March), the first in a trilogy featuring Denizen Hardwick, a boy who doesn't believe in magic until he's ambushed by a monster created from shadows.

HarperCollins is very excited about Cecelia Ahern’s  debut YA (Young Adult) novel, Flawed, set in a society where perfection is everything (March); and Hachette is publishing Sheila O’Flanagan’s fantasy debut for age 10+, The Crystal Run (May). Gill and Macmillan has their first YA novel ever in April, from a writer who is only a teenager herself, sixteen-year-old Eilís Barrett. Her book, Oasis is set in the future and follows a group of teen outcasts turned freedom fighters.

needlework

Little Island, the children’s answer to Tramp Press, has been making waves with their strong fiction list, and 2016 is no exception. First up in February is Needlework by Deirdre Sullivan for young adult and adult readers, a novel about child abuse and its aftermath which I read in one sitting. It’s not an easy read for obvious reasons, but like Louise O’Neill’s Asking for It, it’s an important and beautifully written book.

Also from Little Island for older teen readers is Anna Seidl’s No Heros (March), the story of a school shooting and its aftermath, a publishing sensation in its native Germany; and in May they launch The Best Medicine by Belfast woman, Christine Hamill. Twelve-year-old Philip’s mum has breast cancer and he writes to Harry Hill for advice.

Kim Hood’s debut YA novel, Finding a Voice was shortlisted for the prestigious YA Book Prize in the UK last year and her second novel, Plain Jane is out in April from O’Brien Press. The story of a sixteen-year-old girl whose sister has cancer, it’s one I’m particularly looking forward to as I love her fresh, vibrant writing voice.

The Square Root of Summer by Harriet Reuter Hapgood (Macmillan, May) follows 17-year-old physics prodigy Gottie Oppenheimer as she navigates a summer of both grief and rips in the space-time continuum; and The Girl in the Blue Coat by Monica Hesse (Macmillan, April) is a World War II story set in Amsterdam about a young woman who gets involved with the resistance.

Puffin Ireland Editor, Claire Hennessy’s YA novel, Nothing Tastes as Good is published by Hot Key in July and is already creating quite a stir. Annabel is a recently deceased anorexic teen who finds herself assigned as a ghostly 'helper' to Julia, another girl with an eating problem. Brian Conaghan’s The Bombs That Brought Us Together (Bloomsbury, April), dealing with terrorism and war, also sounds promising; and Derek Landy is back with the second book in his Demon Road fantasy-horror trilogy, Desolation (HarperCollins).

darkmouth 3

For readers of age 9+, there’s book three of Shane Hegarty’s Darkmouth series, Chaos Descends (HarperCollins, April);  and the latest novel by Brian Gallagher (O’Brien Press, April) called Arrivals, about a Canadian murder mystery in 1928. Ger Siggins is back with another book in his popular sport series, Rugby Flyer (O’Brien Press, February); and Matt Griffin tackles a war between the humans and the ancient fairy race in Stormweaver (O’Brien Press, April).

It’s great to see Cork man, Kieran Crowley back with The Mighty Dynamo (Macmillan, May), about a boy who dreams of being a professional footballer;      and I’m currently reading the exquisitely written Anna and the Swallow Man by New York based actor and writer, Gavriel Savit (Penguin Random House Children’s, 28th January), set during World War II.

And finally for this age group, the outstanding American writer, Kate DiCamillo returns with Raymie Nightingale, a novel about three girls and a friendship that will change their lives (Walker Books).

Poolbeg will add Maebh Banrion na Troda (February) and Sceal Naomh Padraig  (March) to their Nutshell library for younger readers; and the ultimate staying-between-the-lines challenge has to be the Where’s Wally? Colouring Book coming from Walker Books in June.

Sarah Bowie’s picture book, Let’s See Ireland (O’Brien Press, April) has striking artwork; and finally Julia Donaldson’s Detective Dog, illustrated by Sara Ogilvie (Macmillan, June) about Nell, a dog with an extra keen sense of smell sounds just the book to make both children and parents smile.

A Spread from Let's See Ireland

Sarah Webb’s next book for children, The Songbird Cafe Girls: Aurora and the Popcorn Dolphin (Walker Books) will be published in March. 

Aurora Book Cover