Little Island Books

A moving and sensitive children’s book exploring a child's experience living in refugee accommodation in Ireland.

Azari’s life has been split in two and the halves are as different as lemons and mangoes. Running links the two parts of her life: sometimes when she runs it is because she wants to, because she feels strong and free. But sometimes it is because she has no other choice. 

When Azari and her mother flee for their lives to Ireland they are put in a centre for asylum seekers. They must share a room with a stranger, eat food they don’t know the name of and answer intrusive questions from authorities. Azari's life has secrets. Will she ever be able to stop running?

How many words do you need to survive?

Letta loves her job as the Wordsmith’s apprentice, giving out words to people that need them. It doesn’t strike her as odd that the people of Ark are only allowed to use a few hundred words, and words like “love”, “hope” and “freedom” are banned.

When her master disappears, Letta begins to understand that all is not well, and that the leaders of Ark want to destroy language forever. It is up to her to stop them silencing what is left of the human race. But she is only a young girl, and they are the leaders of the known world…

When Martin Ryan sees a video of his father flying unaided through the air, he realises everything he believed about his life has been a lie.

Now his parents have disappeared and Martin discovers something weird brewing in the disused mines of the seaside village where he lives. Something glowing. Something ... egg-like.

Someone's definitely been messing with reality. Martin and his friends must do whatever they can to defeat the aliens that threaten the entire human race. Even if it means stealing cop cars, blowing up the mines and turning a paddling pool into a fighter aircraft. 

Written by the newly-appointed Laureate na nÓg (Ireland’s Children’s Literature Laureate)

A gripping high-concept speculative middle-grade novel from the award-winning author of Bumpfizzle, the Best on Planet Earth and The List

Aria lives on a well-ordered planet whose people have eradicated illness and even death. Earth is their ‘shadow planet’ which they populated with humans centuries ago so they could study them and learn from their experiences.

Now the experiment is coming to an end and Aria must go to Earth with her scientist father to set off a train of events which will destroy its people. Brought up to believe that humans are inferior, Aria is shocked to discover that she is herself half human, and amazed to find that Earth-dwellers live life to the full and feel love for each other, even though they are mortal.

But once she understands this, how can she save them, and herself, from destruction?

A Raven Award Winning Irish author's North American debut. A moving YA novel about mental illness and recovery. 

18-year-old Saoirse can’t wait to leave school – but just before the final exams her ex-boyfriend dies by suicide. Everyone blames Saoirse – even Saoirse herself, who cheated on him with his best friend. She is shunned by her schoolmates and suffers unbearable levels of anxiety, which her useless counsellor does nothing to alleviate.

On the night of the prom, everything becomes too much and Saoirse makes a decision that lands her in a psychiatric hospital. Slowly, painfully, with the support of a friendly hospital cleaner, her old best friend, her kind and hilarious grandmother, and even her irritating sister, Saoirse regains hope of finding herself again.

Be careful. The dark is listening.

Hanan is supposed to be dead. The forest outside Skenashogue sent him home alive – but changed. A strange new magic makes every emotion a physical force he can’t control.Bright and gentle, fox-like Pax is everything Hanan is not. And when he touches Hanan he mutes his secret power, quiets the curse.

To survive their own darknesses they'll need to be honest with each other. But Hanan isn’t sure Pax will like what he finds out… Can their love help them find their way back to the light?

For fans of Daniel Jose Older.

A warm and loving story about how a non-binary person comes to understand and accept themselves by an award-winning queer author.

Every morning, when Annie’s moms open up their bookshop, there’s a pile of books on the counter, waiting for the right reader to come and find them.

But one day, there’s a book nobody comes for. Nobody ever comes, and each day the book gets lonelier, and the bookshop becomes an unhappy place. Who can the book be for, and why don’t they come?

Eventually, the book finds the reader who needs it: Annie’s sister, Charlotte. Charlotte asks the family to call her Charlie now, and to use ‘they/them’ pronouns.

The bookshop cheers up. Customers start buying books again.

When Queen Maeve’s army marches north to steal the Brown Bull of Cooley, the leaders of Ulster are cast under a sleeping spell.

Just one boy comes out to face the warrior queen and her invading Connacht horde. A lad who has sworn to protect his homeland like a guard dog: the hero Cúchulainn. He’s only a beardless youth against an army of men, but when he twists into his war-form, Cúchulainn is the fiercest fighter in Ireland.

A new translation of a 2000 year-old Irish legend, by award-winning author and Irish language expert Alan Titley.

This is Irish legend as you haven’t read it before.

Canadian teenager Evie Wilder just found out she’s a werewolf. Now her mom’s gone missing, she and her sister Kate have to go into hiding, and there’s not a single helpful vampire slayer to be found.

With the help of Kevin, the dorky-hot manager of the guesthouse where she and Kate lie low, Evie starts to harness her wolfish side. But Kevin seems to know a suspicious amount about vampires…

Meanwhile, animal attacks are increasing, local teens are going missing, and Evie is about to find herself at the centre of a supernatural showdown.

Kevin’s older brother Adam has turned into a bad guy since their da died – he and his mates burn out a car they’ve stolen, trash the local community centre, and to cap it all, Kevin finds a gun under the floorboards. And then there’s Uncle Davy, just out of prison and already back to his old habits. When Kevin meets another kid who’s lost his dad, a new friendship forms – but both boys soon find themselves caught up in a seriously dangerous game.

This tightly plotted and absorbing novel follows the story of Kevin – a likeable teenager but unlikely hero – who gets caught in a web of crime and deception. Set in working-class Ireland with true-to-life characters and relationships, this pacy and action-focused book will get any teenage boy reading.

‘Funny, moving and full of wisdom, Hope Against Hope shows Sheena Wilkinson is a writer at the top of her game.’ — Jan Carson, author of The Fire Starters, winner of the EU Prize for Literature 2019

The year is 1921. Ireland has been at war for two years. Communities are torn apart by bitter hatred – and now a hard border splits the island.

In Belfast, Helen’s Hope hostel is a progessive space where young women live and work together – a haven of tolerance and diversity in a fractured city. But some people hate Helen’s Hope and its values.

Another pitch-perfect historical novel from the prize-winning author of Star by Star.

You’re caught in a time loop and there’s only one way out. You have to call out your best friend.

Spence hates Anthony’s sexist jokes, but he never says anything. Anthony’s his buddy, and Spence doesn’t have many. One Friday, Spence finds Anthony assaulting their classmate, Clara Hart, at a party. Clara flees from the house, is hit by a car, and dies. But the next day, it’s Friday again and Clara is alive. Caught in a time-loop, Spence finds himself living the same 24 hours on repeat. Can he change Clara’s fate? And what if it’s not that simple?

Ros has finally found Eddy, the girlfriend they’ve always wanted. But Ros can’t tell her the truth: that they are trans, and want to live in a male body.

At a party Ros’s classmates “discover” they’re a lesbian – but that’s not the true story. As Ros’s life gets ever harder to navigate, a new friendship with a boy changes everything and Ros confides in him. Once the truth is out, things take on a momentum that Ros can’t control.

Ros is surprised that their school turns out to be supportive of their identity. But what’s the next move?  And what will happen when Eddy finds out?