Children’s Books Ireland announces Every Child A Reader Reading Community Schools

Children’s Books Ireland and the RTÉ Toy Show Appeal with the Community Foundation for Ireland are pleased to announce the four primary schools we will be working with over the next three years as part of the Every Child A Reader: Reading Communities project. These schools impressed us with strong applications that told us what they’re already doing to support their young readers and how they are overcoming challenges to create a culture of reading. At the interview stage of the application process, they wowed us with their passion and enthusiasm for books, and their commitment to nurturing a love of reading in their students. They clearly laid out how this project would impact their students, what we could achieve together, and how we can affect positive change for the whole school community. We were also impressed by how excited these schools are to have a children’s book artist as their Champion of Reading and their appreciation of what an incredible opportunity it is to have an artist work closely with their school over a sustained period of time. Working together over the next three years, our shared goal is to make Every Child A Reader in these schools. The… Read More

Children’s Books Ireland survey on reading habits and attitudes

Children’s Books Ireland is conducting a survey on the reading habits and attitudes of children and young people. We want young people aged 9+ to tell us about what makes them want to read, what stops them from reading and who influences them to read. What we learn from these surveys will be important in helping us to plan our own work with schools, and will give us valuable information about what things readers have in common. Take the survey. Ba mhaith le Children’s Books Ireland ceist a chur ar leanaí (aois: 9+) agus daoine óga cad a chuideodh leo grá léamh a fhorbairt. Beidh an eolas a fhoghlaimímid óna suirbhéanna seo tábhachtach chun cabhrú linn ár gcuid oibre féin a phleanáil le scoileanna, agus tabharfaidh sé eolas luachmhar dúinn faoi na rudaí atá coitianta le léitheoirí óga. Líon an suirbhé.

Every Child A Reader

Children’s Books Ireland is delighted to announce the Every Child A Reader project. With this title, we are bringing several of our school library book-gifting programmes together under one name. Nearly 400 schools applied for school library support from Children’s Books Ireland in 2020. Additional funding has allowed us to choose 18 schools to work with this school term, increased from our original four Robert Dunbar Memorial Library schools, thanks to the generous support of the Ireland Funds, the Irish Copyright Licensing Agency and other donors.  For this project, we have thought long and hard about the positive changes we can help make in schools and how that change will be made and sustained. The project takes its name from Children’s Books Ireland’s vision: every child a reader. We want every child in these schools to be reading more, enjoying reading more and reading more widely. We want them to see themselves in the books on their shelves, and to have a window to other cultures, other worlds, through reading. So, we’re providing brilliant books, 160 to begin with – books for all ages and interests. Each school will also have a Champion of Reading – an author, illustrator or storyteller… Read More

Children’s Books Ireland Receives the Business to Arts Judges’ Special Recognition Award

Children’s Books Ireland is honoured and proud to receive the Business to Arts Judges’ Special Recognition Award supported by Accenture for a selection of our partnerships. We would like to thank KPMG, Ecclesiastical, An Post, The Community Foundation for Ireland, Brown Bag Films, Rethink Ireland and William Fry for their support and enthusiasm for our projects. These partnerships allow us to inspire and enable every child to become a lifelong reader, regardless of their circumstances, and bring us closer to our vision: Every Child A Reader. ‘We could not be more proud to have won the Judges’ Special Recognition Award,’ said Elaina Ryan, CEO of Children’s Books Ireland. ‘One of our core values is connection, and this award is a celebration of our work in partnership with like-minded organisations towards our shared vision of making every child a reader for life. Our already incredible team is made so much stronger with the support of our partners, and we are so grateful to have these relationships to sustain us and our work, particularly through the last year.’ Children’s Books Ireland would like to sincerely thank the Business to Arts Awards judges for this honour, O’Kennedy Consulting and the Arts Council’s RAISE… Read More

THE IRELAND FUNDS SUPPORTS FOUR SCHOOL LIBRARIES WITH CHILDREN’S BOOKS IRELAND

Children’s Books Ireland is pleased to announce that it will be working to bring the joy of reading to children in four primary schools in Cork, Dublin, Louth and Waterford thanks to the support of The Ireland Funds. Last Autumn we asked schools to tell us about the impact COVID-19 had on reading in their school as part of our school libraries application process. Nearly 400 schools applied, and told us about the many issues the pandemic has caused; a reduction in lending of the books they do have, not being able to let the children browse, or share books, a curtailment of many of the fun activities around books and reading, stopping reading programmes that involved parents/guardians, grandparents or other adults encouraging reading in the home and the additional demand for more books for children at home for long periods. As in previous years, teachers also described empty shelves, purchasing books out of their own pockets and scouring charity shops. The need for support of reading for pleasure in schools is stark. Thanks to the generous support of The Ireland Funds, Children’s Books Ireland is now able to work with four additional schools, who join many other schools on… Read More

KPMG Children’s Books Ireland Awards 2021: Meet the Judges

Children’s Books Ireland was delighted to announce the shortlist for the 2021 KPMG Children’s Books Ireland Awards on 9 March. The shortlist showcases excellence in writing and illustration for children and young people, and presents an impressive and powerful picture of the status of contemporary Irish children’s literature. To arrive at this year’s shortlist, the judging panel read a total of ninety-nine books by authors and illustrators who are Irish by birth, residency or citizenship, and deliberated via Zoom over the course of six months. The judging process is shaped by rigorous debate and guided by the over-arching criterion of excellence. We would like to sincerely thank the eleven-strong panel – which brings together expertise from librarianship, academia, publishing, bookselling, and includes an author-illustrator and a young judge. Find out more about the KPMG Children’s Books Ireland Awards 2021 judges below: The Chair of this year’s judging panel, Pádraic Whyte is associate professor of English and the current director of the Children’s Literature MPhil programme at the School of English at Trinity College Dublin. He is co-editor of Children’s Literature Collections: Approaches to Research (Palgrave, 2017) which won the International Research Society for Children’s Literature Edited Book Award, 2019. Pádraic was co-recipient of… Read More

Shortlist for the KPMG Children’s Books Ireland Awards 2021 Announced

The titles competing for this year’s KPMG Children’s Books Ireland Awards have been revealed today, Tuesday 9 March, giving an impressive and powerful picture of the status of contemporary Irish children’s literature. The shortlist includes a collection of folk tales rooted in the oral tradition of the Irish Traveller community, a picturebook in the Irish language, and two historical novels – one set in Dublin during the 1913 Lockout, the other in Belfast in 1921 during the partition of Ireland. The selection is made up of a spread of books for young readers of all ages – from picturebooks to young adult novels, and of the eight shortlisted titles, five are published by independent Irish publishers. Founded in 1990, the KPMG Children’s Books Ireland Awards are the most prestigious awards for children’s books in Ireland and are a celebration of Irish writing and illustration for younger people. The eight shortlisted titles will compete for a total of six awards: The Book of the Year Award, The Honour Awards for Fiction and Illustration, the Judges’ Special Award, the Junior Juries’ Award, and the Eilís Dillon Award for a first children’s book. The winners will be announced at an online ceremony on… Read More

Join our team: Research & Evaluation Officer required

Children’s Books Ireland is seeking a Research & Evaluation Officer to work 2 days per week as part of our team.  ABOUT CHILDREN’S BOOKS IRELAND: Children’s Books Ireland’s vision is an Ireland in which books are central to every child’s life and where meaningful engagement with books is supported by passionate and informed adults in families, schools, libraries and communities across Ireland. Children’s Books Ireland is a registered charity. Children’s Books Ireland delivers numerous projects that bring the joy of reading to children all over the island of Ireland including Laureate na nÓg (the children’s literature laureate), the Children’s Books Ireland Book of the Year Awards, Children’s Books Ireland Book Clinics, a magazine and annual reading guide, an annual conference and various book-gifting schemes which ensure that children and young people in areas of need have access to books. We work with a number of corporate partners, and have ongoing strategic partnerships with RTÉjr and WH Smith. Children’s Books Ireland is the go-to organisation for children’s book coverage across various media. For more information, see www.childrensbooksireland.ie THE ROLE:  As a charity which runs a large number of programmes and activities, we are committed to evaluating our programmes and measuring our… Read More

Join our team: Administrative Assistant required

ABOUT CHILDREN’S BOOKS IRELAND: Children’s Books Ireland’s vision is simple: every child a reader. Our mission is: to inspire a love of reading in children and young people in Ireland, to share our expertise and enthusiasm with the adults who guide and influence them, and to champion every child’s right to excellent books and live literature events and support the artists who make that goal possible across the island of Ireland. Children’s Books Ireland is a registered charity. We deliver numerous projects that bring the joy of reading to children all over the island of Ireland including Laureate na nÓg (the children’s literature laureate), the KPMG Children’s Books Ireland Awards, Children’s Books Ireland Book Clinics, a magazine and annual reading guide, an annual conference and various book-gifting schemes which ensure that children and young people in areas of need have access to books. Children’s Books Ireland is the go-to organisation for children’s book coverage across various media. For more information, see www.childrensbooksireland.ie and read our Strategic Plan here. ABOUT THE ROLE This is an entry level administrative role which will initially support our work in book-gifting, particularly focusing on our school library programmes and supporting our Children’s & Young People’s… Read More

The RTÉ Toy Show Appeal with the Community Foundation for Ireland

Children’s Books Ireland was delighted to have been chosen as one of three charity partners for the RTÉ Toy Show Appeal with the Community Foundation for Ireland last November. Thanks to the extraordinary generosity of the Irish public, €6.6 million was raised on the night and we are thrilled to receive €302,690 of that to bring us closer to our vision: Every Child A Reader. We would like to sincerely thank the Late Late Toy Show viewers for their generosity, and RTÉ and the Community Foundation for Ireland for selecting us as a charity partner. Children’s Books Ireland champions every child’s right to discover and develop a love of reading. We know that there are many children who do not have access to books at home, or do not have a culture of reading in the home. There are families where literacy or language issues may prevent a parent or guardian from nurturing a love of reading in a child. We choose to focus not just on promoting reading in families, but also on encouraging a positive culture around reading for enjoyment in schools, and working to overcome barriers that keep children and young people from accessing excellent books which… Read More

World Book Day Recommendations on Ireland AM

World Book Day is an annual celebration of books and reading observed in over 100 countries around the globe. To mark the occasion this year, Children’s Books Ireland is making a special gift of 1,100 books to children and young people in the Travelling Community. A variety of high-quality picturebooks and early readers will be gifted to families through outreach services around the country, including the Tipperary Rural Travellers Project, West Limerick Resources, the Donegal Travellers Project, Pavee Point and Involve Youth Services. The selection includes Why the Moon Travels – a collection of stories rooted in the oral tradition of the Irish Traveller Community – by Mincéir author Oein DeBhairduin and illustrated by Leanne McDonagh, a young Traveller woman. We are grateful to all those who donated to our Gift a Book campaign and to Walker Books and The O’Brien Press for additional support. Read more on that here. RECOMMENDATIONS Imagine! By Patricia Forde, illustrated by Elīna Brasliņa, age 3+ A little girl confides in her grandma about her fears: pirates, monsters, the big dog down the lane … Each time her grandma suggests a way to overcome her fear by imagining funny situations. Eventually the girl tells her… Read More

Children’s Books Ireland gifts books to families in the Travelling Community for World Book Day

World Book Day is an annual celebration of books and reading observed in over 100 countries around the globe. To mark the occasion this year, Children’s Books Ireland is making a special gift of 1,100 books to children and young people in the Travelling Community. A variety of high-quality picturebooks and early readers will be gifted to families through outreach services around the country, including the Tipperary Rural Travellers Project, West Limerick Resources, the Donegal Travellers Project, Pavee Point and Involve Youth Services. The selection includes Why the Moon Travels – a collection of stories rooted in the oral tradition of the Irish Traveller Community – by Mincéir author Oein DeBhairduin and illustrated by Leanne McDonagh, a young Traveller woman. CEO of Children’s Books Ireland, Elaina Ryan, said: Mincéir communities all over Ireland were so enthusiastic when they received books from Children’s Books Ireland at Christmas. On World Book Day we are delighted, with the support of over 130 donors to the Gift A Book campaign, to share more brilliant books with Traveller families around Ireland, particularly Oein DeBhairduin and Leanne McDonagh’s Why The Moon Travels. There is huge power in a child seeing themselves and their culture in a book, and… Read More

Children’s Book Recommendations on Today with Claire Byrne

CEO of Children’s Books Ireland, Elaina Ryan, on books that will transport readers all over the world (and to other worlds!) for World Book Day on 4th March 2021. In December, Children’s Books Ireland surveyed over 390 parents through research carried out by Behaviour & Attitudes. We asked them what they feel is the driving factor behind their children’s reading – why do they read? Almost 1/3 of parents of children aged 7–18 cited escapism as a reason their children read. Today our CEO has picked some of the most absorbing reads for all ages, whether they take the reader around the world, to another world or back in time. UNDER 5s Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak A perfect picturebook; published in 1963 and utterly timeless. Max is sent to his room without any supper for chasing the dog around the house, fork in hand, whilst wearing his wolf suit. That night, in his room, a forest grows and he embarks on an adventure, sailing a boat across the sea to where the wild things are – brilliantly original creatures who may remind readers unfamiliar with this classic of The Gruffalo. A ‘wild rumpus’ ensues as Max… Read More

Children’s Books Ireland shortlisted in three categories in the 2021 Business to Arts Awards

Children’s Books Ireland is thrilled to be shortlisted in three categories in the 2021 Business to Arts Awards. We are shortlisted for Best Use of Creativity in the Workplace for BOLD GIRLS meets 20×20: For Best Use of Creativity in the Community for #ImagineNation with An Post: And for the Judges’ Special Recognition Award for our partnerships with An Post, Brown Bag Films, The Community Foundation for Ireland, Ecclesiastical, KPMG, Rethink Ireland and William Fry. We would like to sincerely thank all of our wonderful partners and Business to Arts for their recognition of our work.

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Children’s Books Ireland shortlisted for the National Lottery Good Causes Awards

Children’s Books Ireland has been selected as a finalist in the Arts & Culture Category of the National Lottery Good Causes Awards. The awards celebrate the inspiring and innovative work being carried out by the thousands of individuals, organisations, groups and sports clubs all over Ireland who benefit from National Lottery Good Causes funding. The six finalists in the Arts & Culture category used Good Causes funds to promote arts and culture throughout the country, encouraging artistic expression, cultural awareness and participation. CEO of Children’s Books Ireland, Elaina Ryan, said, ‘Being a finalist for the National Lottery Good Causes Awards is a joy. We are honoured to have our work over the past year recognised, and it is so encouraging for our team. We feel very proud to have been selected and to be in such good company with our fellow finalists.’

Robert Dunbar Memorial Libraries winners 2021

Children’s Books Ireland announces fourth annual Robert Dunbar Memorial Libraries winners – Four libraries of 300 books each to be donated to schools in Dublin, Offaly and Armagh Children’s Books Ireland are pleased to announce this year’s winners of a Robert Dunbar Memorial Library, named in memory of our former patron and long-time friend of the organisation. This was the biggest year for applications yet, with close to 400 schools applying. This brings the total to 1100 applications received over the four year period since this programme began – clearly showing the dire need that schools have for quality, contemporary reading materials for their students. As in previous years, teachers described empty shelves, purchasing books out of their own pockets and scouring charity shops, all compounded by the impact of Covid–19; which has led to a reduction in lending of the books they do have, not being able to let the children browse, or share books, a curtailment of many of the fun activities around books and reading, stopping reading programmes that involved parents/guardians, grandparents or other adults encouraging reading in the home and the additional demand for more books for children at home for long periods. The need for… Read More

Ireland Reads on Today with Claire Byrne

Libraries Ireland is collaborating with writers, booksellers, publishers and others to lead a new national campaign, ‘Ireland Reads’, during the month of February. This is part of the government-backed KeepWell initiative. The campaign will encourage everyone to discover the joy of reading and will culminate in a national day of reading on Thursday, February 25th. It’s all about promoting the power of reading for enjoyment and wellbeing – combatting lockdown by encouraging people to get back into the habit of reading and regularly setting aside time to sit and read a book, a poem, a comic, a newspaper, an ebook or audiobook; whatever works for them. The website is now live and we are asking people to go and pledge their support for Ireland Reads – sign up and pledge to read for an hour, or half an hour, or whatever you can manage. Children’s Books Ireland is a supporting partner and we are encouraging readers of all ages to get involved. For the launch of Ireland Reads, which is all about dropping everything and reading just for the love of it, we’ve gathered together a selection of books that may help a child see themselves reflected on the page,… Read More

January Reads on Ireland AM

CEO of Children’s Books Ireland, Elaina Ryan, recommends fun books to read while staying at home this January. Let’s Play Monsters by Lucy Cousins (age 1+) Lucy Cousins will be well known to many as the creator of the Maisie the mouse series of books. Her bright colours, heavy black outlines and recognisable font are ideal for the very young, and this rhyming picturebook is a perfect insight into the world of 3-year-old Gabriel who wants to play monsters. Members of Gabriel’s family (as well as the cat and a pot plant) are assigned various scary characteristics as Gabriel demands to be chased – a game that will be very familiar to those with young children. Ending with a bedtime kiss, this is a perfect lockdown book, showing all the fun that can be had in the confines of the home, with whatever kind of family might be there. Rita agus an Lampa Draíochta le Máire Zepf agus Mr Ando (age 3+) Rita agus an Lampa Draíochta is the sixth Rita title in the series to be published by An tSnáthaid Mhór, a Northern Irish publishing house. In this book, the main character Rita, a girl with big ideas, decides… Read More

Christmas Reads on RTÉ Today

The One With the Waggly Tail by Sarah Webb and Steve McCarthy (age 2+) This is the third book from super-team Sarah Webb and Steve McCarthy, published by the O’Brien Press, each of them gathering well-loved rhymes from an Irish childhood. Some of the pieces included will be familiar to children in any part of the world (1,2,3,4,5, Once I caught a fish alive) and some are new, or more uniquely Irish (Connemara Cradle Song). Plenty of classic nursery rhymes can be found here and all are given a fresh lease of life with Steve McCarthy’s brilliant illustrations, tied together by the colour palette we see on the front cover. A hardback with a ribbon to hold your place, this is a perfect gift for young families and will suit children aged two to much older. MÍP le Máire Zepf agus Paddy Donnelly (age 3+) MÍP is blasted off to Mars to capture images of alien life there, but try as she might, there are no aliens to be found… or are there? When an storm happens and MÍP loses contact with earth, the scientists who made her are devastated. But with a little help, MÍP manages to reactivate. Based… Read More

Ardú chroí: Children’s Books Ireland’s 2020

2020 has been a challenging year for all of us and for Children’s Books Ireland it’s been an extraordinarily rewarding one too. As the year draws to a close, we wanted to take the opportunity to reflect on all we’ve achieved over the past twelve months and to thank our members, donors, partners and funders for supporting us along the way. We recently published our new Strategic Plan for 2020–2023, which outlines the vision, mission, aims and objectives, and values of our organisation. Our first strategic aim is to inspire and enable more children and young people to become readers for life, and the crucial first step in achieving that is to provide access to books. This year, with the support of our partners, we gifted over 18,000 books to children and young people all over Ireland. Children’s Books Ireland champions every child’s right to discover and develop a love of reading and, through our book-gifting initiatives in 2020, we have provided that opportunity to children and young people in schools, homeless services, direct provision, the Travelling Community, hospitals, and to babies in mixed-catchment areas. Casting our minds back to a time before Covid-19, in February we launched Small Print:… Read More

Bookbag at St. Catherine’s Infant School

Bookbag 2020 Bookbag is a children’s book-gifting initiative established by picturebook maker and creator of the Henry Hugglemonster series, Niamh Sharkey, during her term as Laureate na nÓg (2012–2014). The project is delivered in partnership with Brown Bag Films and Children’s Books Ireland and aimed at schools in areas of disadvantage, which may not have the necessary resources to fund author or illustrator visits or books for a school library. The Bookbag project builds a buzz around reading and encourages a whole-school reading culture, which should be sustainable beyond the duration of the project. Bookbag ensures that every child in the school has access to at least one book in their home. The books gifted are chosen carefully: they are visually striking, entertaining, funny and engaging; the type of book that we hope will draw in a child who does not already think of themselves as a reader. This year, the winning school was St Catherine’s Infant School, a DEIS Band 1 school in Cabra. This small school of 138 students teaches children from junior infants to first class, as well as two Stars ASD classes. They told us of their need for brilliant new books to excite their pupils. Their enthusiasm was… Read More

Christmas Reads on Today with Claire Byrne

Cloisim rud éigin! Tadhg Mac Dhonnagáin agus Steve Simpson (age 0–3) Leabhar deas simplí atá ann: this is a really simple board book about the noises Dainín hears in his home. Perfect for very young children, this book is a reissue in a larger format, useful for small hands, and forms part of the Dainín series. A bundle of 4 is available from futafata.ie for €30. What We’ll Build: Plans for our Together Future by Oliver Jeffers (age 2+) Oliver Jeffers’ work will already be known to many, and What We’ll Build will delight longstanding and new fans alike. A follow-up to Here We Are, which was written for Oliver’s son and was an overview of the whole world in one book, What We’ll Build is dedicated to the artist’s daughter, and takes the form of a conversation between father and daughter about the adventures they might go on and the hurdles they might have to overcome. Full of warmth and with vividly imagined worlds and characters populating the sparse narrative, this book promotes openness, empathy and imagination. The Snowflake by Benji Davies (age 3+) This is an instant classic of a Christmas story. A nervous little snowflake falls from… Read More

Toyota Ireland supports Children’s Books Ireland to gift 2,000 books to vulnerable children this Christmas

This December, Children’s Books Ireland is gifting a bedtime story to children all over Ireland as they face into a difficult Christmas. With the support of Toyota Ireland, the Arts Council and KPMG, a total of 8,000 Irish books will be gifted to children and young people in centres of direct provision, hospitals, the Travelling community and homeless services nationwide. There are currently over 2,000 children in direct provision and over 3,000 experiencing homelessness. Just 13% of Travellers go on to complete secondary education in comparison with 92% of the general population. With the help of several charity partners – including the Simon Community, ISPCC, Tipperary Rural Travellers Project, and Temple Street Children’s Hospital – books will be gifted to children and families across the country so that they can share a bedtime story this Christmas. A recent survey conducted by Scottish Book Trust revealed 92% of respondents agreed that reading is important to them in times of stress or anxiety and 98% agreed that reading supports their wellbeing. Respondents also cited reading as a form of escapism when they were in difficult situations as children. CEO of Children’s Books Ireland, Elaina Ryan, said: ‘All over Ireland there are children… Read More

Children’s Books for Christmas on Ireland AM

This year there is a real drive to shop local and buy Irish, so for Ireland AM our CEO, Elaina Ryan, has chosen a selection of books by Irish artists, some of them Irish-published, which you can pick up at your local bookshop. Reviews of these and more are featured in the Books Make Things Better reading guide, free to download here or to pick up in participating bookshops. The Dead Zoo by Peter Donnelly (age 2+) In this story of an unlikely friendship between dour museum-owner Mr Gray and a mischievous mouse, Dublin’s ‘Dead Zoo’ (the natural history museum) is brilliantly immortalised. A slapstick chase takes readers on a virtual museum tour – featuring the iconic great Irish elk. Clever use of colour throughout juxtaposes the aptly named Mr Gray with vivid exotic animals, highlighting his transformation from strict and serious to a veritable Willy Wonka, clad head to toe in purple. Fun and stylish, The Dead Zoo is Donnelly at his best. Geansaí Otto by Sadhbh Devlin maisithe ag/illustrated by Róisín Hahessy (age 3+) Otto is a fashionable little boy, and when his granny knits him baggy, unfashionable jumpers he is less than impressed. He makes up his… Read More

Children’s Books Ireland CEO Elaina Ryan acknowledged in The Bookseller 150 list

The board and staff are delighted to see our indefatigable CEO, Elaina Ryan, acknowledged in The Bookseller 150 list. Through a demanding year Elaina has captained the ship with grace, good humour and determination to overcome the obstacles we faced. As a result, 2020 has been our most challenging, inspiring and rewarding year to date.