The Children of Lir by Laura Ruth Maher and Conor Busuttil

Everyone knows the story of the Children of Lir, one of the great tragedies of Irish folklore. With this beautiful new book from O'Brien Press, designed specifically for young readers, the next generation can be introduced to the story.



Written in rhyme (which also sneakily helps to pronounce a couple of the names, very clever!)  and illustrated by a wonderful new name in children's books, this is the perfect gift for this Christmas or for any other occasion. The illustrations will remind you of Chris Riddell, but there are plenty of touches to remind you that this is a new illustrator. He's definitely going places, and I hope one of those places is back to the Press in a year to do the next book in this series. How about Diarmuid and Grainne or maybe the Salmon? :D

This is a really fabulous book, I can't emphasise it enough.

This title isn't on goodreads yet; the summary comes from O'Brien's website.

This charming rhyming story tells the legend of The Children of Lir, who were turned into swans by their wicked stepmother and forced to wander across Ireland for 900 years.