Books

‘Irish Times’ journalist launches debut children’s book

Alison Healy says ‘How Billy Brown Saved the Queen’ is aimed at children who find maths difficult

Children’s author Alison Healy with illustrator Fintan Taite at the launch of her book ‘How Billy Brown saved the Queen’ at Hodges Figgis bookshop, Dublin. Photograph: Brenda Fitzsimons / THE IRISH TIMES

Aine McMahon
Wed Apr 11 2018 - 21:04

The debut children's book by Irish Times journalist Alison Healy was launched in Dublin on Wednesday evening.

How Billy Brown Saved the Queen is about a boy with a talent for maths and a sense of adventure.

Billy Brown is mystified to learn that the Queen does not understand a maths problem that is perfectly clear to him. He decides that the kind thing would be to go to the royal palace and explain it to her.

Published by Little Island Books, the novel is aimed at readers aged eight years or older and for children who find maths difficult and enjoy a good laugh.

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Ms Healy said the book was about “how fitting in is tricky when you’re magnificently different”.

The book was illustrated by Fintan Taite, former chairman of the Illustrators Guild of Ireland, whose work has appeared in newspapers and magazines.

Ms Healy has worked as a journalist with The Irish Times for almost 17 years. She specialises in food and farming issues but is currently on a career break, working as a ghost writer and on her children's fiction. This is her first children's book.

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