O'Brien Picture Books Roundup

As always, O'Brien are releasing some fabulous picture books for this Christmas! I couldn't separate them, so I've popped them all together here - I hope you enjoy!

A Children's Atlas of Ireland by Jennifer Farley

Do you know what Ireland’s tiniest mammal is? Or where to find an enormous fin whale? Climb mountains full of eagles and insects, and see toads and kingfishers in our lakes and rivers.

Have you heard of the Hag who turns people to stone? Or the fierce pirate Gráinne? Spot Irish werewolves and the phantom island of Hy-Brasil, mysterious standing stones and fairy forts.

What is a flying boat? Would you ever eat a slippery eel or seaweed pudding? Ride the railway or a canal boat across the country to learn about incredible inventions, huge castles and deep, dark caves and tunnels.

From high mountains to haunted houses, bog bodies to big battles, discover Ireland as you’ve never seen it before.

The Best Christmas Ever by Sarah Morgan

As the snowstorm of the century bears down on New England, reclusive author Mabel Miller is preparing to spend yet another Christmas alone with her cats. While everyone else is making merry, she’ll be avoiding the whole painful holiday. No decorations. No tree. No traces of Christmas. That is, until the weather intervenes and sends not one but two cars spinning into the stone wall surrounding her isolated cottage. Now she has a house full of strangers when the last thing she wanted was company for Christmas.

Yet Mabel’s unexpected guests—a family with two young children expecting Santa to drop gifts down the chimney, and two work colleagues who clearly have a history—are determined to make the best of the situation. As her attempts to protect her privacy are thwarted by the two little ones who are charmingly oblivious to her boundaries, soon Mabel is making cocoa and cookies for the first time in years, and allowing them into her library, a place that contains so many of her secrets.

Mabel has her reasons for keeping her truths so deeply hidden. But this Christmas, if Mabel is brave enough to share, she might finally be able to rewrite the past and find a festive happy-ever-after - for her new friends, but also herself.

The Discworld Bestiary by Terry Pratchett and Paul Kidd

From the Terrible Man-Eating Sloth of Clup to the Ambiguous Puzuma, this gorgeously presented and utterly addictive bestiary from Terry Pratchett's Discworld boasts breathtaking art from Paul Kidby.

An exhaustive illustrated guide to the creatures and critters of Discworld, packed with wisdom from the great minds of the Disc, as well as interjections from some of its more unconventional thinkers.

Discover the best way to care for the Terrible Man-Eating Sloth of Clup, the eating habits of the Ambiguous Puzuma, and marvel at the startling prevalence of ominous ducks in cosmic matters.

Wriggling with insights, crawling with wisdom and packed with extra advice from Rincewind, Unseen University’s latest (and reluctant) adjunct professor of Perplexing Beasts and curator of its curiobiological museum.

Gracie by Judi Curtin

It's 1930. Twelve-year-old Gracie has always lived in a tiny cottage bursting with brothers and sisters, until she's sent to stay with her widowed Aunt Peg. Suddenly Gracie finds herself in a big, empty house feeling very alone.

Enter the Travelling Players and their theatre. Liliana and her family are wild, funny and talented – and fill Gracie's days with colour and excitement.

Can she be happy here after all?

A Raven of the Rainforest by Rosanne Parry

On Westerly the raven’s otherwise ink-black tail, one bright white feather stands out. Westerly stands out, too. She isn’t like her brother and sister—she’s different. Everyone knows it, including the roost’s storykeeper, who proclaims that Westerly alone is destined to save her fellow ravens from a terrible fate. Questioning her destiny, isolated from her family, and full of doubt, Westerly takes to the sky, vowing never to return. But when a once-in-a-lifetime volcanic eruption finds her, she has no choice but to flee in the direction of home.

The Camelot Oracle by John Matthews and Will Worthington

Enter the mystical world of King Arthur and his Knights of the Round Table with The Camelot Oracle, a transformative divination tool that offers oracular guidance from the legendary figures you encounter along your journey.

Rooted in the timeless Arthurian myths, The Camelot Oracle invites you to walk in the footsteps of heroes, face challenges, and uncover profound truths about your life’s path. Unfold the included Map of the Lands Adventurous and unwrap the included Place, Hallows, and Character cards, and your journey from Camelot is ready to begin. With a champion and companion at your side, discover the path to where your challenger awaits to hear and answer your questions.

This enhanced, reissued edition of the original features 46 total cards, including four added Hallows cards, two new alternative character cards, and a beautifully redesigned card back and book design. The guidebook is newly revised with entries on the new cards and additional insights.

Whether you’re a novice or an experienced practitioner, The Camelot Oracle will inspire clarity, self-discovery, and a deeper connection to your inner wisdom.

The Big Bang Theory Pop Culture Reference Guide by Matt Browning

An indispensable companion to one of the most binged shows in streaming history

The Big Bang Theory Pop Culture Reference Guide is an in-depth look at the thousands of topical references to people, places, movies, music, science, and events which make up many of the funniest lines on the enduringly popular television series The Big Bang Theory, bringing new and long-time fans alike in on the joke.

It was 2007. The era of Must-See TV had ended. There was no Friends, no Will and Grace, no Seinfeld. The broadcast airwaves were being ruled by reality television series like American Idol and Big Brother, coupled with the expanded offerings of cable networks. Only CBS was seeing some success with the traditional multi-camera sitcom structure through shows like How I Met Your Mother and Two and a Half Men. Into that very lineup, sandwiched between the two hit series, came a fresh take on the sitcom setup: What would happen if two brainy nerds found themselves living next door to a beautiful woman? And television history was made, while educating readers about pop culture and world events.

The relatively simple premise didn’t stop there. The Big Bang Theory was not only funny—–it was smart. Very smart. Centering the action around a group of researchers at a prestigious university elevated the dialogue above standard sitcom fare. Just like setting had been considered a character on earlier shows like Northern Exposure, for The Big Bang Theory, science was one of the stars of the show. And so was pop culture. Because not only were our beloved nerds—Sheldon, Leonard, Howard, and Rajesh—brilliant in the laboratory, they were peerless in the comic book store too. Each episode is peppered with pop culture references drawn from science fiction: comics, books, television, film, music, board games, video games, and more. While Sheldon might be brilliant in string theory, he was equally brilliant in Star Trek lore. And the humor didn’t only revolve around nerd culture. For every obscure reference pulled from Klingon and Dungeons & Dragons, neighbor Penny could match wits when it came to the Kardashians and Juicy Couture.

Over the course of 12 seasons and 279 episodes from 2007 to 2019, The Big Bang Theory became a cultural touchstone with an extraordinarily devoted fan base. In every episode, its fast-paced style of dialogue offered biting observations and timeless humor about issues ranging from comic books to scientific discoveries. Meticulously researched episode by episode, The Big Bang Theory Pop Culture Reference Guide is an eye-opening, illuminating encyclopedia of thousands of topical jokes that will help both new and longtime fans experience their favorite show in a whole new light.

The Strangers by Naomi Alderman

They came from nowhere, and now they are everywhere.

A few months after her mother dies, the novelist Naomi Alderman sets up a wildlife camera in the back garden of her parents’ home. It captures the first image of a strange new animal. Low to the ground, about the size of a badger, flat face, long, trunk-like nose. Suddenly these “mimmoths” are as common as foxes or dogs. And no one knows where they’ve come from.

As Alderman negotiates the territory of grief – a place with its own logic and rhythms – the mimmoths spread. From the UK east and west, to the United States, to Russia, to India. They seem harmless, but oddly intelligent. They cannot be captured, they will not take food from humans, they have their own purposes.

Alderman cannot shake the feeling that she has a particular connection to the creatures. Or is she just succumbing to ‘mimmoth psychosis’? As the impact of the mimmoths increases, she is pulled into the cross currents of conspiracy theories and global power struggles. Have her deeply personal forms of mourning lent recent events a surreal air, or is our reality changing drastically and irrevocably?

From the award-winning author of the international bestseller, The Power, The Strangers is a thrillingly original and devastatingly moving novel that blurs the lines between fiction and reality, inviting us to reconsider what it means to be human. It’s like nothing you’ll have read before.

Lights, Camera, Mayhem! by Alan Nolan

Dublin, 1937

A gang of movie-mad kids meet at the Grand Central Cinema on O’Connell Street and form a club to make their OWN films!

Jem, Juno, Sylvie and friends are thrilled to meet world-famous child actress Dottie Bright. But they soon learn it’s not always good to meet your heroes. Dottie is a spoiled brat. There’s no way she is going to help them with their own film.

But then danger strikes, and Dottie needs the gang to be her real-life heroes.

A rollercoaster adventure about the magic of the silver screen and the power of unlikely friendships.

Love and Other Cures for the Recently Undead by H J Ramsay

CeCe Campbell wakes on the asphalt of a mall parking lot with two missing years and a body that no longer feels like her own. Infected with the Kill Virus on her 18th birthday, she’s among the first to be cured.

Rehabilitation teaches CeCe how to walk, how to speak, how to exist in a world rebuilding itself, but it cannot return what she lost. Her mother is dead. Her brother is missing. And the last memory before the dark is a bite she cannot escape.

When CeCe unexpectedly meets Derrick—the boy who infected her—she’s torn between anger and a strange, undeniable connection. Derrick doesn’t remember what he did. CeCe does, and the truth of that moment is something he’ll never get. Not when he already took everything from her.

But if there's to be life after the cure, CeCe will have to unwind the past, face what happened the night that bound them together, and decide if love and forgiveness can heal wounds deeper than the ones left by the undead.

Love and Other Cures for the Recently Undead is a haunting post-apocalyptic love story about guilt, survival, and choosing connection in a world where nothing can be undone.

Daggerbound by T Kingfisher

Learned Edmund, a disillusioned scholar, is transporting yet another precious relic from one stuffy temple to a different stuffy temple. Another great adventure for the ages…

But when Edmund is set upon by bandits, in desperation, he breaks the cardinal rule and grabs for the relic, an ancient sword. To his surprise, instead of unsheathing a rusty, ancient weapon, an alarmingly handsome man appears, wielding daggers of blue steel and cutting the thieves down.

This man is the Dervish, an immortal warrior who’s been trapped for centuries in a sword of enchanted steel, and is angry as hell about it. He hates the curse that put him there, and he wants to hate Edmund, just as he has hated every wielder before him.

But the damned scholar is just so sweet and clever and kind. And while the Dervish may be able to protect Edmund from bandits, cultists, dragons, and strange inhuman diplomats, he may find it much harder to protect his own heart.

A Reader's Guide to Terry Pratchett by Marc Burrows

Terry Pratchett sold over 100 million books worldwide, was translated into forty languages, and became one of the most widely loved writers of the twentieth century. His work, including the Discworld series, is often praised for its wit and invention, but less often examined for what it really is: one of the most sustained and coherent philosophical projects in modern popular fiction.

From the author of The Magic of Terry Pratchett, the Locus Award-winning first biography of Sir Terry, The Terry Pratchett Reader’s Guide takes Pratchett seriously as a literary figure without taking the fun out of him. Moving chronologically from his earliest short stories through to 1999’s The Fifth Elephant, this first volume charts how an angry young journalist from Beaconsfield turned genre parody into something far more ambitious: a body of work concerned with belief, power, identity, and what happens when enough people believe the same thing at once. A second volume will cover The Truth (2000) through to Pratchett’s final novel, The Shepherd’s Crown.

A reader’s guide written for readers, not academics, complete with jokes and footnotes of its own, each chapter explores a book’s themes, cultural context, and place in Pratchett’s development, tracing the connections between the man, the work, and the world around him.

Whether you’ve read every Discworld novel multiple times or are wondering where to begin, the Readers Guide is a new way to understand what Pratchett achieved: a serious meditation on justice, belief, and what it means to be human — with terrible puns, endless cups of tea, and the occasional joke about bums.

The Imagitorium by Sarah Beth Durst

It’s really very impolite to ask anyone to risk life, limb, and extra limbs without giving them a choice.

Shy daydreamer Amelia has been looking forward to this day for as long as she can the day she, as a ten-year-old, finally gets to enter the magical Imagitorium and create her very own imaginary friend.

But when she walks out of the Creation Room with Ruru, a fluffy, bearlike being with butterfly wings who gives excellent hugs, and into a scene of pure chaos, she quickly realizes that something’s gone very wrong. The Imagitorium is so much bigger than anyone outside knows, filled with dragons and sea monsters and candy cyclones, and now it’s starting to fall apart. The Caretaker is missing, and it’s up to Amelia to find her.

Amelia knows that she’s never been a hero, but… maybe she can still help?

and then we screamed by Holly Bourne

Everything was perfect in the small town of Maple Lakes...until the cheerleaders started screaming.

Clover wishes something would happen in her boring high school - so she can spend more time with her crush Brody, covering it for the school newspaper. But she never wished for this...

When cheerleader Abigail starts screaming in the middle of an exam, people laugh. But as more girls start breaking into uncontrollable screaming fits, it's clear something is seriously wrong. The authorities don't have a clue what's happening - so it's up to Clover and Brody to investigate. What they discover is a darkness beneath the perfect veneer of Maple Lakes - and it is spreading fast.

Here's to you, Rachel Robinson by Judy Blume

Trouble in Rachel's family is spelled with a capital C—for Charles.

From the outside, Rachel looks like the perfect daughter in the perfect family. She’s a straight-A student, a gifted musician, and a good friend. But her older brother, Charles, seems determined to ruin everything. Rachel feels as if it’s all falling apart. Her best friends, Stephanie and Alison, find Charles funny. They urge Rachel to lighten up and enjoy the end of seventh grade. Easy for them to say. Not so easy for Rachel. Not even when Jeremy Dragon, the coolest boy in ninth grade, notices her. Is it possible that perfection isn’t the key to an exciting life?

Just as long as we're Together by Judy Blume

Stephanie and Rachel have been best friends for years, in spite of their differences. Alison is new in town, and immediately becomes an integral part of their group. But is it possible to have two best friends? And how can you call anyone a friend if you can't tell them your most painful secrets?

Where Lost Girls Go by Kody Keplinger

There are many reasons why five girls have ended up living with Sol in a cabin in the Kentucky mountains. But the girls don't talk about what has brought each of them here or who they were before. They have become sisters and are grateful to have a place to call home. 

Iris knows she owes everything to Sol. He has promised to keep them safe from their pasts. All he asks in return is for their loyalty, which Iris freely gives. With her sisters and Sol as her family, she feels happier than she has in a long time. 

Until a new girl arrives and everything changes. Sol christens her Rose and the sisters are quick to welcome her. Iris is drawn to Rose, but as they grow closer, Rose has Iris questioning things about this life in the woods. When Sol notices, he challenges Iris to prove her commitment to their family. 

Her sisters tell her that she should be willing to do anything for the man who saved her. But with each new ask, Iris realizes there is more to Sol - and her sisters - than she knows and some secrets should stay buried deep.

Moss'd in Space by Rebecca Thorne

Her starship gave her freedom.

But could it also become a friend?

Torian thought she was getting a bargain: a century-old alien starship, abandoned and covered in moss. It was her ticket away from a smuggling past and her overbearing ex . . . ah, ex-captain, Amelia. But the moss has a mind of its own.

As the ship’s ‘organic computer,’ Moss is lonely, snarky and harbouring serious abandonment issues. And when Torian journeys onward, she encounters the immortal alien who built the craft, then just left it behind – with Moss inside. The ship he’s now accusing Torian of stealing. Charting a new course across the galaxy, Torian finds an unexpected ally in Amelia, who might help her find the safe haven she craves. Torian can pilot a starship. But can she uncover ancient secrets and connect with a computer that just wants to belong?

Labyrinth by Liz Braswell and Andrea Guardino

Enter the labyrinth in this illustrated novelization of the classic film that will transport you to a world where nothing is what it seems . . .

Welcome to the realm of the Goblin King, where walls are doors, doors will lie to you, up is sometimes down, and left is rarely right. Join Sarah in her hero's quest through the Labyrinth with her band of adventurous new friends as they make their way to the castle beyond the Goblin City in this illustrated movie adaptation the whole family can enjoy. This brand-new edition, adapted by New York Times bestselling author Liz Braswell, brings Jim Henson's iconic story to life with vibrant art by Andrea Guardino featuring all the imaginative characters and creatures that call the Labyrinth home.