To celebrate the amazing @lawrencepatrice.bsky.social’s appointment as our new children’s laureate, how about we use this week’s #KidsBooksFriday to share books that embody her message of community and belonging. #KidLitUK #UKKidLit #KidLit

Ripening

If I might gripe for a second, when did customer service become "you have make an account for this portal on this device and upload this thing and verify that thing which will involve three additional checks and finally curtsey slowly on one leg and here is your invoice for our time and expertise".

Thursday afternoon

Thursday afternoon

@marthafanning.bsky.social 😔 16 commercial vs 5 personal

If I might gripe for a second, when did customer service become "you have make an account for this portal on this device and upload this thing and verify that thing which will involve three additional checks and finally curtsey slowly on one leg and here is your invoice for our time and expertise".

✨ Meet the 2026 Children's #WainwrightPrize judges! From authors and illustrators to booksellers and environmental champions, this year's panels will champion the stories inspiring the next generation of nature lovers. Discover more: wainwrightprize.com

Unfortunately our Bill to ban hare coursing has been voted down by FF, FG and SF. The annual cruel practice of capturing and terrorising thousands of hares will continue. The politicians are wildly out of touch with the public on this one. We'll be back and we will win a ban!

Selkies are beautiful creatures from Irish, Faroese, and Scottish folklore who have the appearance of seals in water, but shed their skin to come ashore and reveal their human forms. If a human finds the skin and hides it, the selkie can't return to the sea 🦭 Prints: ciaraioch.com/artprints/p/...

You know what's cool? Books.

Ripening

Unfortunately, a stunned Paris is how they all got into this whole mess to begin with

Lads here's the @iccl.bsky.social petition against facial recognition technology, ye know what to do. #Speirgorm www.iccl.ie/i-do-not-con...

Huge pressure on Ireland to nationalise Russian-owned #Aughinish refinery after European Parliament voted in favour of a proposal to ban alumina exports to Russia. www.rte.ie/news/2026/07...

PSA: noai.duckduckgo.com is a search with no AI features and AI images filtered out

🚨BREAKING🚨 More than 600 workers at Hachette Book Group just voted overwhelmingly to unionize, creating the largest union in trade publishing history! newsguild.org/hachette-boo...

My latest books cartoon for @theguardian.com #heatwave

Wonderful news from the world of children's literature today! Congratulations to @lawrencepatrice.bsky.social 🥳

Have an issue you want to discuss? Join me for my drop in Advice Clinic! 📍The Wishing Well, Newtown Park, A94A6Y6 ⏰ 6pm - 7pm 🗓️ Monday 13th July All are welcome. See you there!

The hearing continues tomorrow. This is the first part, 100% worth reading the bit about Elon Musk😂 www.oireachtas.ie/en/debates/d...

The Irish Coursing Club has refused to provide evidence for its claim, repeated by the junior minister for agriculture, that hare coursing contributes €70m to the Irish economy annually. It comes ahead of a Dáil vote to ban the blood sport tomorrow night. jrnl.ie/7094305t

Brilliant to catch @lawrencepatrice.bsky.social for a quick chat to find out how it feels to be the brand new Waterstones #ChildrensLaureate!

"I want to champion the power of books to connect us and make us feel like we belong" @lawrencepatrice.bsky.social, our new Waterstones #ChildrensLaureate 2026-28, speaking powerfully about the role of stories to build connection and community - and how this will be the focus of her Laureateship.

As @frankcottrellboyce.bsky.social incredible time as Waterstones Children's Laureate comes to a close, we want to say a HUGE thank you. As our Reading Rights Ambassador, Frank will continue to champion the idea that reading should be a right for every child, right from the earliest moments.

The pure joy of a dog running on a beach

The hearing continues tomorrow. This is the first part, 100% worth reading the bit about Elon Musk😂 www.oireachtas.ie/en/debates/d...

The pure joy of a dog running on a beach

"RED"

Bologna opens a new library containing more than 32,000 books from Umberto Eco's private study - arranged exactly as he left them - a decade after his death.

"RED"

PSA: noai.duckduckgo.com is a search with no AI features and AI images filtered out

Ní h-aon cailín ciúin abea Peig Sayers, bean í a raibh lán le scéalta agus eascainí de réir daoine a raibh aithne acu ar an scéalaí Gaeltachta. #Gaeilge jrnl.ie/7092938

We try to be *very* careful when crafting from proofs or damaged books that the pages used are family friendly!

We try to be *very* careful when crafting from proofs or damaged books that the pages used are family friendly!

Halloween idea: go around to all the Tiny Libraries in your neighbourhood and fill them with horror books.

We had a brilliant time chatting all about books on the Oliver Callan show today! We've got some super recommendations for your summer holiday reading. Listen back to hear what our young reviewers had to say about the selected titles: childrensbooksireland.ie/news-events/...

My latest books cartoon for @theguardian.com

This, as requested by @mhplives.bsky.social, is the @newscientist.com cartoon that Alan Moore describes (rather well) in a recent episode of the Team Human podcast www.teamhuman.fm/episodes/371...

Some photos from the beautiful event Curl held in Beirut a few weeks ago to mark the publication of 'This is Also a Love Story', with more here: www.instagram.com/p/DabS0RkDhJ... It's a wonderful bookshop, check them out if you are in Lebanon: www.instagram.com/curlcoffee/

Started listening to @nickharkaway.com's "Tigerman" and properly laughed out loud at the passage describing The War Against the Tomatoes

Willie Clancy Summer School, or Willie Week, as it is called locally, warming up nicely.

put different covers on the books in there….trick…or treat?

Halloween idea: go around to all the Tiny Libraries in your neighbourhood and fill them with horror books.

He was back in. "Have you heard of a Tilley hat?" I had not. "If it goes before I do, they'll replace it." I asked how long he'd had his. "30 years. By the Nile, in Egypt, it went in one end of a camel and came out the other perfectly intact. Just needed a bit of a wash."

He was back in. "Have you heard of a Tilley hat?" I had not. "If it goes before I do, they'll replace it." I asked how long he'd had his. "30 years. By the Nile, in Egypt, it went in one end of a camel and came out the other perfectly intact. Just needed a bit of a wash."

Customer (who, to be clear, has been a regular for years and who, so far as I know, is pure Dub) seeing a book on Black Elk in the window: I was at a stand off between the FBI and the Sioux at the Rosebud Reservation in South Dakota, 1969 I think it was...

Just hand sold the new Jo Spain by doing a VERY dramatic reading of the blurb