THIS attractive large format, appealing cover by P.J. Lynch and excellent layout, including plenty of illustrations, The Big Guide to Irish Children's Books is warmer and more accessible than your usual reference work. It describes itself as "a celebration of the recent dramatic growth in Irish publishing for children and young adults", and the dominant tone of the book is congratulatory.
Indeed, congratulations are appropriate in light of the findings of an Arts Council-sponsored report by Coopers & Lybrand last year, which confirms that the main growth area in Irish publishing is children's books. Both the Irish Children's Book Trust and CLAI, the Children's Literature Association of Ireland - the producers of this guide - are voluntary organisations which have been instrumental in encouraging the new wave of Irish children's authors, their publishers and their books.
While understandable and well deserved, the jubilation is probably the reason this guide reads more like a Festschrift than a reference tool. Articles by various contributors introduce subject areas such as Picture Books, Fantasy, Teenage Fiction, Historical Fiction and Poetry Books. Some are poorly written and lack insight and authority, while others provide excellent surveys of their area with historical context, literary analysis and sample reviews, the most notable being those by Robert Dunbar, the two editors of the book, and Tom Mullins. Centrally positioned and written in large print, the contributors' articles take precedence in the guide. The actual book lists of recommended works are in eye-straining minuscule print, while the reviews, at a paragraph or less a piece, are also in smaller print than the articles.
Some of the best reviews can be found in the Leabhair Ghaeilge section which is generously presented in both Irish and English. Alas, the introductory article does not exploit the opportunity to present in detail this marginalised literary world. A richness of material is intimated by the categories of Animal Books, Folk Tales and Myths, Current Issues, Information Books and Poetry Books, but while authors are listed for some but not all groupings, no titles are specified and no examples are given. One is left to peer at the fine print of the recommended list and guess which titles may refer to the subject. The opportunity is also missed to ask some important questions in this section, e.g. "Why is Marita Conlon McKenna translated into every other language on the planet except Irish?" or "Why aren't the hefty Arts Council grants to Irish publishers tied to some Irish language percentage, given the publishers' healthy profits in this sector?"
There will always be omissions in any anthology but a reference guide must aim for thoroughness. In some sections, second-rate work and even out-of-print books are given inexplicable coverage, while major works are not mentioned. The recommended lists are not as inclusive as they should be, and this lack appears to be due to oversight as opposed to prejudice, e.g. only two books of Michael Scott's prolific output are listed in Myths, Legends and Folktales, while the Action and Adventure Stories has omitted. Margrit Cruickshank's seminal SKUNK series, though it lists books such as The Queen of Aran's Daughter which simply don't belong in this category.
THE section on Animal Stories is truly absurd, lumping in teddy bears with nature by wildlife experts such as Tom McCaughren and Don Conroy. Instead, the guide needs sections on Humour and Horror. The absence of Humour omits a great number of books including ones written by Martin Waddell and by the first Irish child author, 14-year-old Aislinn O'Loughlin, with Cinderella's Fella. The exclusion of Horror flies in the face of an international trend and ignores the growing number of Irish authors writing in this genre under new horror imprints of Irish publishers.
The guide's primary users will be teachers and librarians, and perhaps it makes sense that the contributors are chiefly from these professions. At the same time, however, the work suffers from the lack of other experts in the field, most particularly children's authors, children themselves (writers and reviewers), literary critics and booksellers. These would have given the book a more creative, challenging, lively and even controversial tint.
The strengths of the guide lie in its attractive presentation and the very fact of its existence, coming so many years after The Irish Guide to Children's Books, published also by the Irish Children's Book Trust, in 1990. The field of Irish children's literature has grown so quickly that this key is needed to guide teachers, librarians booksellers and other interested parties through the exciting maze of authors and works.