Siobhán is most at home writing books for children over ten. This is the age at which children really get into reading and love their books to bits. If you haven’t read any yet, you could start with Amelia, which is a historical novel set in Dublin in 1914, or Something Invisible, set in modern Dublin. Children who enjoy Siobhán’s children’s books sometimes want to read the teenage ones too. That’s a great idea, but you will enjoy them much better if you wait till you are in secondary school.
Jonathan is desperate to protect his little sister from the social services, who are sure to want to take them into care, but everything goes wrong.
“Topical, empathetic and humane, the characterisation is sharp and strong … the storyline compelling … ” Robert Dunbar
Long Story Short is the US edition of Bruised. Only the titles, the covers and some of the spellings are different. This is a story of abuse and neglect told with sincerity, heart and a healthy dose of humour.
“… packs a serious wallop … Don’t miss this one.” Philadelphia Inquirer
Níl meas ar bith ag Mara ar na bábóigíní Rúiseacha a thugann a máthair di dá lá breithe, ach rud is iontach — tá duine de na bábóigíní ar iarradh, ach deir Mam nach bhfuil barúil aici fúithí…
Mara’s mother gives her a birthday present of Matryoshka dolls from Russia, and one of the dolls is missing. When Mara and her friend Dorota go in search of the missing doll they make some discoveries.
Duais Oireachtais 2008
Amy Ní Chonchúir’s secret diary proves to be a Pandora’s box full of more than the usual teenage secrets, revealing a world of crime and a twist in the tail that will take your breath away. Siobhan’s award-winning first book in Irish.
Is ábhair iontais don léitheoir nuair is léir gur páiste uchtaithe ón tSín í Amy, ‘údar’ na dialainne seo!
Hal doesn’t see the world like other people, and Olivia is impatient with his dreaminess.
“A moving novel about a child’s inability to overcome the loss of a parent” Book Fest
Bisto Honour Book| IBBY Honour Book| USBBY Honor List
“… exquisitely written … the year’s most striking Irish children’s novel’ The Irish Times
“conveys in simple language the most complex of emotions” The Guardian
“… elegant, constantly surprising language … thoughtful, delicate, devastating” Teaching English
“Heartbreaking and uplifting” Publishers Weekly
Mags is determined to find a way to raise money to send her friend Gillian to music school.
“This wise and winning story plants truths about the frailty of life, the dreadfulness of some parents and the often fractious nature of friendship.” Publishers Weekly
White Raven Award
Growing up in the Liberties of Dublin in the 1930s, Kate’s great ambition is to win a medal for her Irish dancing, but her family can’t even afford a costume for her.
“With elegance and wit, the story suggests that circumstances may change, but emotions endure.” Valerie Coghlan, Bookbird
“with … almost audible dialogue … these two cleverly entwined stories form a thought-provoking and exciting read.” Sunday Tribune
Set in the snowy Arctic, a coming-of-age tale with a twist.
“Parkinson’s reputation as one of Ireland’s most talented storytellers for the young can only be enhanced by this powerful yet wistful work, which will illuminate the imaginative lives of its readers, no matter what their age.” Books Ireland
Written in the form of a TV documentary, this novel consists of four homeless teenagers’ accounts of their lives on the streets.
“… the only Irish novel for young adults that engages directly with issues of homelessness. … groundbreaking in many respects” Pádraic Whyte, Irish Children’s Literature and Culture
Bisto Merit Award | IBBY Honour Book
Ricky is unable to speak. How is he ever going to make friends in his new foster home?
“… credibly demonstrates the power of the imagination to reshape and transform experience” The Irish Times
Bisto Merit Award | White Raven Award
Three kids on holiday in the west of Ireland meet up with a local lad, who takes them to an offshore island for the day, but their adventure turns out to be more than they had bargained for.
“… one of the best Irish children’s books we have ever had … an amazingly clever book” Robert Dunbar
Bisto Book of the Year 1997
Siobhán’s best-ever-selling book and has been translated into twenty languages. A modern take on the Cinderella story, this novel consists of the diaries of two stepsisters.
“Irish teenage fiction at its most sophisticated.” Children’s Books in Ireland
It’s 1914, and Amelia is the daughter of a well-to-do Dublin Quaker family. But things go wrong in her father’s business, and her Suffragette mother gets into trouble with the law. Amelia has to learn to cope.
White Raven Award
A sequel to Amelia, set in Dublin in 1916.
“Parkinson’s decision to focus on a middle-class Quaker family and the filtering of … two historical conflicts through their pacifist, democratic, and egalitarian beliefs permits a shifting of focus away from conventional perspectives on the historical events.” Susan Cahill, Irish Children’s Literature and Culture
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