Some reviews. Just click on the image to read them!

Before the decorations are taken down, the old and the new coexist.

To all my friends: Happy New Year. I hope that in 2026, your blessings will be great and plentiful, and your troubles tiny and few.

Final rehearsal for this evening’s NYE concert ✨🎷 On January 1st 1926, the precursor to RTÉ, then 2RN, delivered the Irish state’s first public radio transmission. Across the last century, RTÉ - as 2RN, Radio Éireann, Teilifís Éireann and latterly RTÉ - has been at the centre of Irish life.

My ten books of 2025 Ten Thousand Miles of Clouds and Moons: New Chinese Writing, ed. Zuo Fei, Xiao Yue Shan & Simon Shieh (various translators) @honfordstar.bsky.social The Propagandist by Cécile Desprairies, tr. Natasha Lehrer (Swift Press) Habitat by Catriona Shine @lilliputpress.bsky.social

The first little snowdrop has appeared in the garden. 'Plúirín sneachta' i nGaeilge. And, we had a great walk on a lovely, crisp winter's afternoon.

www.roscommonherald.ie/i-wont-be-he... Contrast this with the greedy billionaires who appear to focus only on amassing more wealth. Just imagine if they acted like this generous woman.

A bracing Christmas walk on Ardnahinch Beach Shanagarry.

The final #ChristmasReads is here. No24. And it's the brilliant "Frog in Winter" by Max Velthuijs. Have a lovely Christmas everybody!

May you have joy this Christmas and every blessing in the year ahead.

They're called concentration camps.

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Oooh! My favourite Christmas picturebook was the 2nd last in the box for #ChristmasReads No 23. It is, of course, "Harvey Slumfenburger's Christmas Present" - a perfect story from the inimitable John Burningham.

If this doesn't motivate you to vote in the Midterms, nothing will.

We're drawing ever closer to 'C Day' as we choose "Jack Frost" for #ChristmasReads No 22. This is a real favourite here.

Our MA Children's Literature at Goldsmiths is building a library of academic works that show what we're about: 'Children's Literature in Action'; 'Adventures in Wonderland'; 'Reading Children's Fairytales' as well as books by individual lecturers.

#ChristmasReads No21 on this solstice night is the great old favourite "'Twas the Night before Christmas."

#BookAdvent Day 21 #LeahsStar by #MargaretBatesonHill, illus. by #KarinLittlewood A beautiful retelling of the Nativity story from the perspective of an innkeeper’s daughter. Littlewood’s illustrations capture the sense of awe & wonder felt by Leah in the bustle around her. @alannamax

For years from #edutwitter to now, many of us in education have known & talked about this as one of the reasons we are uncomfortable with & dislike Walliams books. Also that they're the equivalent of junk food in written form. Hopefully they'll now disappear from display & shops #EduSky #UKKidLit

A beautiful poetry box set of four of Seamus Heaney’s collections have arrived in Secondhand - on the shelves now! Included: - Death of a naturalist - Door into the Dark - Wintering Out - North

The Smiley Snowman was chosen as #ChristmasReads No20. There was some real excitement at how few books remain in the box now.

The Smiley Snowman was chosen as #ChristmasReads No20. There was some real excitement at how few books remain in the box now.

#ChristmasReads No19 was greeted with a cheer. Little boys love a pants reference and the book is called Can You Find Santa's Pants?" Great bit of craic reading that!

December is full of real joy. It is also an astonishing amount of work. Watching mothers of children at home rushing through the season has me reflecting on how much unpaid labour Christmas depends on, and how easily that labour disappears into “magic.” #UnpaidLabour #CareWork #Christmas

The two contasting sides of the roof of a gingerbread house. One decorator, the 3.5 yo, had a rather casual approach. The 5.75 yo was quite precise in his execution. @jamesmayew.bsky.social

#ChristmasReads No18 is Jan Brett's wonderful "Who's that Knocking on Christmas Eve?"

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It took a little while…but we finally found some book titles whose covers live up to the very pink sparkle of our offices’ Christmas Tree. (Books by Flavia Z. Drago, Anna McQuinn & Rosalind Beardshaw and Viola Wang) #KidLitUK

Nature’s Acre is my Irish gardening memoir: wildlife, neighbours, and recovery with soil under fingernails. Grab it: Ebook mybook.to/wFA3fQ1 Paperback mybook.to/3MZxFf

Holy moly it's time for #ChristmasReads No17 and this evening's choice proved very popular. If you loved "There's a Bear on my Chair", then you'll really enjoy this one!

"The Polar Express" is No16 in the #ChristmasReads and was greeted with great glee.

And for #ChristmasReads No15 another cosy @littletigeruk.bsky.social book was chosen. This one is called "Is It Christmas Yet?" Apt! The 3 and a half year old asks that question - or a version of it - daily.

Mortifying trying to promote work at this time of year, but unfortunately it's still necessary to make a living from drawing due to a significant delay in successfully wooing a wealthy Kerry farmer and being whisked off in his John Deere to a life of diamond-encrusted wellies

#ChristmasReads No14 turned out to be the brilliant "How Does Santa Get Down the Chimney?"

It's bedtime, and #ChristmasReads No13 is waiting to be revealed. It's "The Snowiest Christmas Ever", another @littletigeruk.bsky.social book. The boys' other Gran gave them a set of these gentle little stories last year. They're getting quite a nice revival this year.

Over the past couple of years, I've enjoyed putting together RfP book packs for @pandorabooks.bsky.social. A lot of thought and care went into the selections, and I think they make excellent 'starter packs'. They've recently been updated and are available here: www.pandorabooks.co.uk/jon-biddle-r...

12 gone; 12 more to go. We're halfway through our #ChristmasReads. Tonight's story is "One Christmas Wish" @littletigeruk.bsky.social

12 gone; 12 more to go. We're halfway through our #ChristmasReads. Tonight's story is "One Christmas Wish" @littletigeruk.bsky.social

Our own gardens can be such bursting hubs of life amidst roads, gravel, tree plantations, and overused fields. You can help HEAL this world, no matter the size of your bit of it—even just a flowerpot left to its own devices. Every crumb counts 💚

'What the Ladybird Heard at Christmas' is #ChristmasReads No11. A lovely choice for a cosy bedtime read.

What, I wonder, is "The Most Wonderful Gift in the World"? All will be revealed soon because that is the title of tonight's bedtome story. #ChristmasReads No10

Support an Irish artist and buy some really cool stuff! Still time to order for Xmas delivery!!🎅👇👇👇👇 A fine addition to any wall or desk!

Yes. And I fear that, soon, it will be too late. My book is 10 years old now but explains how the process might begin with young children

I feel sympathy and anger that critical thinking is not being taught in the schools or in the home. This is intentional by the government but parents are abdicating their responsibility too.

We're Going on an Elf Chase is #ChristmasReads No9. That should be fun as tonight's bedtime read.

And tonight, #ChristmasReads No8 is a gentle little story called The Snow Rabbit.