For many years Don Conroy has flown the "early readers" flag for Irish publishers almost single-handedly. It is good to see that Irish publishers are finally taking notice of this important age group (six or seven upwards) and producing fine books for them from a variety of authors. And it is also good to see that Don is still blazing the trail.
His new book, Mumbo and Jumbo's Big Day Out (Poolbeg, £3.99) features an elephant (Mumbo) and a hippo (Jumbo) who are captured by poachers and sold to a New York zoo. But these are jungle animals with a difference - they can sing opera and soon take the city's opera houses by storm. With a plot that zips along and Don's own compelling, highly-polished cartoon illustrations, this is a laugh-out-loud book with real child-appeal.
Animals of a different kind populate Siobhan Parkinson's Cows are Not Vegetarians (O'Brien, £4.99). Better known for her award-winning teenage fiction (her Arctic coming-of-age novel, The Call of the Whales, is a front-runner for this year's Bisto Award which will be announced on May 30th), Siobhan dips her toe into the age-old "Jackeens" versus "Culchies" debate to great effect. Michelle is from Dublin and proud of it - "Dublin is the capital of Ireland, and it's the best and everyone else is a Culchie," she baldly states. When she visits her country cousins she's in for a shock - they live in the middle of a field and have a cow for a pet. A self-proclaimed genius, with a sharp tongue and an honours degree in retort, Michelle is a delightfully sassy and street-wise character. The book, however, is not served well by the sketchy and too-juvenile illustrations by Cathy Henderson.
Conor McHale is an emerging talent to watch out for, and his ground-breaking Don't Open That Box (O'Brien, £4.33) gives a taste of what may be to come, given the right format. Both author and illustrator of this highly inventive story of Belzoni, a cat with attitude, and Greta, a chicken with a mission, McHale has an eye for the dramatic, and his illustrations pulsate with energy, from the Germanic, early Sendak-like cross-hatching, to the cinematic, doublespread "action shots". His drawings are, however, constrained by the average-sized, paperback pages and, with some "tweaking", would have made an exciting and original picture book. McHale's writing is full of imagery and clever wordplay, refreshing in a children's book for younger readers: "The crocodile's teeth shone like daggers as he steamrollered forward. His hot breath hit Belzoni like a wall." The ending is contrived and doesn't quite hang together, but there is more than enough in this pacy and involving book to hold any child's (or adult's) attention.
And finally, there's not an animal to be seen in Bob and the House Elves by Australian author Emily Rodda (Bloomsbury, £7.99 in UK). Bob "the Builder" is a compulsively likeable character, despite his rather unfortunate name, not to mention his obligatory dirty singlet and shorts. When elves move in and clean everything from his house to his work clothes, he becomes a laughing stock and schemes to get rid of them. But nothing seems to work until he enlists the help of the kind librarian, Lily. This is a brilliantly funny read, with lots of sparky dialogue and delightfully quirky scenes. The eye-catching, busy linedrawings by Tim Archbold are more Quentin Blake than the man himself. And the clever conclusion pleases both elves and reader: "Being elves, there was nothing they liked better than a story with a happy ending."
Sarah Webb is the children's marketing manager and buyer for Eason's, and a writer. Her latest book, Always the Bridesmaid, will be published in August by Poolbeg