‘Look at JK Rowling!’ The line guaranteed to make a children’s author weepFor every David Walliams or Jeff Kinney, there are 1,000 authors for young people scraping a living and double jobbing, but for many it is a passion and a vocationTue Feb 21 2017 - 10:00
The best of this month’s books for children and young adultsAward-winning writers and newcomers provide a rich selection for younger readersSat Feb 18 2017 - 04:00
Jacqueline Wilson: ‘If your life is what you post on Instagram, what is your plot?’The bestselling author on unhappy endings, living with adaptations and why she prefers the Victorian era to today’s world as a setting for her YA novelsFri Feb 17 2017 - 06:00
The best romances in YA novelsYA readers want love stories that avoid cliched brooding heroes and swoony silliness, romance beyond the boy-meets-girl varietyTue Feb 14 2017 - 06:00
Children’s books: five great titles to start the new yearSelection includes fun, silly stories and the 2016 Printz Award-winning YA bookSat Jan 21 2017 - 06:00
Worthy and wonderful: The best children’s and YA fiction of 2016No need to force ‘worthy’ books on young readers this year. Some of the best books of 2016 are not preachy, but all are carefully crafted and engaging works of literatureSat Dec 17 2016 - 06:00
Books to steal young people’s hearts this ChristmasThe Grinch, Horrid Henry, the Christmasaurus, seasonal jokes and a Yuletide murder mystery are some of the festive reading delights on offer for children and teensSat Dec 17 2016 - 06:00
Small Great Things review: Race confronted in important bookJodi Picoult makes her white, liberal readers shuffle uncomfortably in heavy-handed workSat Dec 10 2016 - 06:00
YA, romance, fantasy: RF Long’s much maligned influencesRuth Frances Long tells Claire Hennessy about a trilogy’s power, making Dublin mystical and why romance fiction is a feminist actThu Dec 01 2016 - 11:25
Irish Times review: New books for younger readersFrom suffragettes to feminists and revolting rhymes for teensSat Nov 19 2016 - 06:00
Young adult dystopias – for when reality isn’t dark enoughHere are some of the best dystopian titles for young peopleFri Nov 11 2016 - 16:20
Children’s Irish Book Awards nominations: a crash courseClaire Hennessy, our resident children’s/YA reviewer and a shortlisted author too, runs her rule over shortlists and identifies the favouritesFri Nov 11 2016 - 15:53
Children’s and YA books: Hats off to several top new titlesReviews of titles by, among others, Jon Klassen, Barroux, Julia ‘Gruffalo’ Donaldson and comedian David O’DohertySat Oct 22 2016 - 05:00
Children’s and YA fiction: a bumper crop for the ‘middle grade’Reviews of titles by Sarah Moore Fitzgerald, Siobhán Parkinson, Judi Curtin, Paul Gamble and Peter Bunzl, plus Harry Potter ebooks from JK RowlingSat Sept 24 2016 - 05:00
Back to school: Irish children’s writers on their favourite school storiesDeirdre Sullivan, Ruth Frances Long, Judi Curtin, Sheena Wilkinson and Shirley-Anne McMillan tell tales to Claire HennessyFri Sept 02 2016 - 15:54
Tale of yawning animals is the perfect bedtime treatReviews: ‘Goodnight Everyone’, ‘Nothing!’, ‘A Child of Books’, ‘The Bone Sparrow’ and ‘Non Pratt’s Unboxed ’Sat Aug 27 2016 - 01:00
Jenny Colgan’s school stories for grown-upsThe bestselling author of a modern take on the boarding school series from a teacher’s perspective tells Claire Hennessy why she is now publishing them under her own nameMon Aug 22 2016 - 14:35
Children and YA books: A bird’s death brings a new understanding of lifeReviews: ‘The Dead Bird’, ‘Run with the Wind’, ‘Wonderboy’, ‘What’s a Girl Gotta Do?’Sat Jul 30 2016 - 01:00
You Will Know Me review: Female adolescent noir hits a literary high pointMegan Abbott delivers another intense thriller about the unknowable world of teenage girlsSat Jul 30 2016 - 01:00
Harry Potter: the magical secrets to wizardly sucessAs the bestselling series’s latest chapter is published, Claire Hennessy assesses the phenomenon as part of a long literary tradition and suggests what to read nextFri Jul 29 2016 - 13:46
Young adult and children’s books: bodily functions and recipes for dealing with lifeReviews: ‘The World’s Worst Children’, ‘A Library of Lemons’, ‘Caramel Hearts’, ‘Paper Butterflies’ and ‘If I Was Your Girl’Sat Jul 02 2016 - 02:42
Older than you think: Irish teen fiction was alive and well in 1990sThe sadly short-lived Bright Sparks imprint from Attic Press came closest to a grouping of teen fiction but the breakthough title was Margrit Cruickshank’s The DoorWed Jun 29 2016 - 14:22
A Q&A with ER Murray and Helen FalconerThe authors of Caramel Hearts and The Dark Beloved, both born in England but living in Ireland, talk to Claire Hennessy about their new work and writing for young peopleWed Jun 22 2016 - 14:29
The rise of the YA novel in verseThe US realised earlier than us that poetry can tackle very difficult subjects without preaching because every word has to count. Claire Hennessy assesses a vibrant genreTue Jun 07 2016 - 13:28
Writing and reading are ways of coming to terms with my lack of psychic powersI was re-reading Markus Zusak’s The Book Thief when I decided ‘This book will be narrated by a snarky anorexic ghost!’Thu May 26 2016 - 12:42
Say hello to your friends: why we still love Ann M Martin’s The Babysitters ClubThe series made us readers, prioritised creativity, entrepreneurship and independence over looks or boys, but above all it gave us not just friends but a model of female friendshipMon Apr 25 2016 - 13:35
My problem with how eating disorder narratives shape our thinkingI know better, writes Claire Hennessy, yet my ideas about eating disorders are influenced by stories I read, which suggest they are for young women with little else to worry aboutTue Feb 23 2016 - 13:18
Frances Hardinge’s Costa triumph is a big win for all YA authorsThe Lie Tree is incredibly readable, a coming-of-age murder mystery in a post-Darwin world with a plot that zips and twists through secrets and deceitWed Jan 27 2016 - 16:36
Alan Rickman’s Snape charms, intrigues and by series end breaks our heartsThe late actor was in theory too old to play Severus Snape in Harry Potter films but Rule of Cool, grace and raw emotion he brought made him perfect, says Claire HennessyFri Jan 15 2016 - 12:23
Children’s books: imaginary friends and real-life enemiesNicola Colton’s ‘A Dublin Fairytale’; Eoin Colfer and Oliver Jeffers’s ‘Imaginary Fred’ ; Michael Morpurgo’s ‘An Eagle in the Snow’; Rainbow Rowell’s ‘Carry On’Sat Nov 14 2015 - 01:00
Night Music review: John Connolly on reading, writing and terrifyingVolume two of the Charlie Parker author’s ‘Nocturnes’ is a similarly – and brilliantly – evocative mix of literary pastiche, eerie laughs and scarifyingly effective horrorSat Nov 07 2015 - 00:26
Who’s reading YA? Everyone at DeptCon1, that’s whoClaire Hennessy reports on last weekend’s inaugural Irish YA convention, a fan event but one rich in debate and author insightsTue Oct 27 2015 - 11:59
The Boy at the Top of the Mountain, by John Boyne: Hitler’s right-hand boyReview: Comparisons to The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas are merited: this new fable about a boy in wartime invites us to reflect on the best and worst of human natureSat Oct 17 2015 - 00:08
Speaking up: a brief history of rape culture in young adult fictionAsking For It engages the media and popular culture but also its own field, YA, which since the 1950s has pushed boundaries and explored adolescence in edgy, realistic waysMon Sept 28 2015 - 10:42
Steven Camden and Aisling Fahey bring poetry to lifeSpoken word poets argue compellingly that performance is key to making poetry accessible, reports Claire Hennessy from the Children’s Books Ireland conferenceFri Sept 18 2015 - 13:08
Keeping it real: Young Adult authors on the hard truths in their fictionThe stories have to come first, not the issues, agree YA authors Louise O’Neill, Kim Hood and James Dawson. Claire Hennessy reports onthe Children’s Books Ireland conferenceFri Sept 18 2015 - 12:59
In praise of Marian Keyes, by Claire HennessyCelebrating Irish women writers: ‘if you’ve ever read her work you know just how carefully she juxtaposes her sharp observations and wit against sadness and pain’Fri Mar 06 2015 - 22:30
Books: Can Young Adult fiction go too far?Experts discuss the YA fiction scene – the ‘John Green effect’, the ‘Katniss effect’ and unhappy endingsThu Oct 30 2014 - 01:05
