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If you’ve ever been trapped reading a boring book to a young person, I feel your pain. These books are NOT boring. They’re really well written, beautiful and interesting. Even better, they’re about magic, strange happenings, special powers, and mysterious characters. What’s not to love?Cream Buns and Crime is the perfect collection of short stories for buddying young detectives. Daisy Wells and Hazel Wong are famous for solving murder cases, but there are many other mysteries in the pages of their casebooks. Join them as they solve two new, never-before-seen cases and pick up some helpful tips along the way. The perfect story for Nancy Drew’s everywhere.A Question of Magic. Serafina’s life takes an unexpected turn when she receives a letter from her great-aunt Baba Yaga, who by the way is a powerful witch! Summoned to her great-aunt’s cottage to begin her new life, Serafina finds it difficult to leave her family and the boy she loves behind.  As she gets familiar with her new role, Serafina learns that strangers can ask her one question and she must tell the truth… but telling the future doesn’t necessarily mean knowing the right answers. E.D Baker’s re-imaging of Slavic folklore captures its readers from the first page and reminds us to be careful with what you wish for! I loved that Baker was able draw from Slavic folklore. Baba Yaga is such a famous character and it is nice to see her being written about in the 21st century. In her own unique way, bestselling author E.D. Baker has crafted a funny and romantic story that combines some fabulous details from the original Slavic tale, with a wonderful new twist!Strange Star. Villa Diodati. Switzerland, 1816. It’s a dark and stormy night. Four freethinkers join their host Lord Byron at his estate for a night of chilling tales. Felix, Byron’s serving boy, cannot wait for the night’s festivities to begin. He plans to hang onto every morbid word! Frantic banging at the door quickly brings the night’s festivities to a halt. A young girl is at the door and she needs help.Her clothes are in tatters and a strange scar is clearly visible on her neck. The story is far from over because a monster rides in her wake! Strange Star is another great hit from author Emma Carroll. Beautifully written, haunting and sinister. I couldn’t put in down.Submitted by Eimear from the Relief Staff Panel.Access eBooks/eAudiobooks on your phone, tablet or reader. Once you have installed the app, search for Dublin in the ‘Library’ field provided and then sign in using your library membership card number and PIN. Watch our how to video on Borrowbox. Members of other library authorities will need to log in using a different link. 

We are delighted to announce that 'Knights of the Borrowed Dark' by Dave Rudden, published by Puffin Books, is the chosen book for the 2017 Citywide Reading Campaign for Children.This reading initiative is organised by Dublin City Council’s Public Library Service as part of its UNESCO City of Literature programme with the aim of encouraging children to read for pleasure.There will be author visits to Dublin City Public libraries as well as city-centre based events to promote the campaign from January to March 2017. Full details about the campaign and events will be available in early January. Copies of KNIGHTS OF THE BORROWED DARK will be available in all Dublin City branch libraries."I am honoured and delighted that 'Knights of the Borrowed Dark' is Dublin UNESCO City of Literature’s Citywide Read. This is the city that taught me how to write, and I owe so much to its vibrant, friendly and supportive literary community. There's a wild, swashbuckling charm to Dublin that very much inspired the strange and magical world of the Knights (though thankfully with less clockwork women and waistcoated misery-drinkers) and I can't wait to share it with Dublin's young readers and help them find stories of their own."  says Dave Rudden.This is the sixth year of the reading initiative.  In previous years books chosen for the Citywide Reading Campaign included Alan Early’s Arthur Quinn and the World Serpent, The Nightmare Club series featuring Annie Graves , The Powers by Kevin Stevens, Danger is Everywhere by David O’Doherty, and last year’s book was The Book of Learning by E.R. Murray.Reviews:Knights of the Borrowed Dark by Dave Rudden review – a magical debut (Guardian, 7 May 2016)Book Review – Knights Of The Borrowed Dark by Dave Rudden (Rick O'Shea, RTÉ 2fm and RTÉ Radio 1 Broadcaster)Reader Reviews on Goodreads.See also Puffin Books website.

Question: When might a Harry Potter not be a Harry Potter? Stumped? Answer: When it is not written by J.K. Rowling!So what then is this we hear of a new Harry Potter book to be launched on the 31st July? Indeed it's true, the eight book in the series, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child - Parts I & II, is to be officially launched in Livraria Lello (Lello Bookstore) in Porto in Portugal. Now it might be a tad unfair to say it is not a J.K. Rowling book as, though not penned by her,  it is based on an original story by her together with a number of others. And it is officially the eight book on the Harry Potter series. So there, record clarified.The significance of the date 31st July? Jt is J.K. Rowling's and Harry's joint birthday!The launch on the 31st July in Porto is that of the official script book of the play of the same name, which premieres in London’s West End at the Palace Theatre on the 30th July. The play was written by Jack Thorne and is based on an original story by J.K. Rowling, John Tiffany and Jack Thorne himself.Harry Potter and the Cursed Child - Parts I & II follows the life of the now more mature and overworked Potter and his youngest son Albus Severus 19 years after what was the final book in the original series, 'Deathly Hallows'.Did you know? 2017 marks the 20th anniversary of the UK publication of the very first book in the series, Harry Potter And The Philosopher's Stone.About the Book:It was always difficult being Harry Potter and it isn't much easier now that he is an overworked employee of the Ministry of Magic, a husband, and father of three school-age children. While Harry grapples with a past that refuses to stay where it belongs, his youngest son Albus must struggle with the weight of a family legacy he never wanted. As past and present fuse ominously, both father and son learn the uncomfortable truth: sometimes, darkness comes from unexpected places. (from publisher Little, Brown)This Special Rehearsal Edition will be available until early 2017, after which a Definitive Edition of the script will be available (publisher's note)Why Livraria Lello?This bookshop (see right, click to view larger image) is rumoured to be the inspiration for Rowling's own Flourish and Blotts bookstore in the Harry Potter series and indeed for much of her writings in the series. And it is easy to see why, it is truly a thing of beauty this, one of the oldest bookshops in Portugal. The bookshop opened to the public in 1906 and has a neo-gothic facade, a beautifully curvaceous art nouveau staircase and stained-glass skylight. The travel guide Lonely Planet named Livraria Lello the "Third Best Bookstore in the World!". J.K. Rowling frequented the bookshop and the cafe on the upper floor while she lived in Porto in the early 1990s, teaching English as a foreign language during her stay there.See this 360 degree view of the bookshop.Below: Flourish and Blotts Bookshop (click to view larger image)Check the library catalogue for Harry Potter and the Cursed Child - Parts I & II.See also the previous blog post POTTER MANIA!!!!! listing the previous seven books in the series.

Dublin City Public Libraries and Dublin UNESCO City of Literature today, Tuesday 17th January, launched 'Children Save Dublin', the city’s first ever children’s citywide reading project.Similar to the highly successful Dublin: One City One Book festival, but aimed at children from 4th and 5th classes, children across Dublin will be encouraged to read, talk about and have fun with the same book over January, February and March 2012.The book chosen is 'Arthur Quinn and the World Serpent' (links to catalogue), by first time Irish writer Alan Early, a new and fresh voice in Irish writing. Arthur Quinn is one of the most exciting new adventure stories published in Ireland in the last few years and was shortlisted for the Irish Book Awards 2011. Fast paced and thrilling, this is a book which will get Dublin children excited about reading and has been described as Harry Potter - Dublin style.The book is set in the Dublin of today, featuring the Metro North tunnels while harking back to Viking mythology as the children unleash a Viking god. The action takes place on the streets of Dublin and the project gives plenty of scope for activities which will spark interest in the book and reading itself.Children are encouraged to attend associated events in city libraries and schools during the mid-term and afterwards as part of the project. Children can also engage online with the author via a special interactive website which includes games and a blog related to the story. Alan Early will visit schools and libraries during the three month festival, engaging with the children and helping them discover the secret of how to defeat the World Serpent!The project will conclude with an exciting event taking place at Connolly Station as part of St. Patrick’s Festival in March. A serpent- themed train will host a variety of children’s activities including workshops, fun question and answer sessions with the author and much more!

With the release of the final Harry Potter movie this summer (on July 15 for those who are counting the days like me!!), and the release of the latest Harry Potter movie on DVD, it’s never too late to become a Harry Potter fan, (or like me read all the stories again in preparation for the film!)All seven Harry Potter novels and DVDs are available to borrow in Dublin City Public Libraries or you can reserve them online using your borrower number and pin number. Your borrower number is on your library card and if you do not have a pin number you can get it at your local Dublin City Public Library. Harry Potter novels and DVD's in order from first to last:Harry Potter and the Philosophers Stone / Harry Potter and the Philosophers Stone DVDHarry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets / Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets DVDHarry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban / Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban DVDHarry Potter and the Goblet of Fire / Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire DVDHarry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix / Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix DVDHarry Potter and the Half Blood Prince / Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince DVDHarry Potter and the Deathly Hallows / Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – PART 1 DVDSome of these titles are also available in large print copy and some are available in talking book format on CD.