A Little Bit of Irish — YA Lit with an Irish Connection
Whether set in Ireland or written by an Irish author, these books are sure to make your St. Patrick’s Day a little greener.
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The Supernaturalist By: Eoin ColferIn futuristic Satellite City, fourteen-year-old Cosmo Hill escapes from his abusive orphanage and teams up with three other people who share his unusual ability to see supernatural creatures, and together they determine the nature and purpose of the swarming blue Parasites that are invisible to most humans. Ages 12 and up |
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The Scorpio Races By: Maggie StiefvaterNineteen-year-old returning champion Sean Kendrick competes against Puck Connolly, the first girl ever to ride in the annual Scorpio Races, both trying to keep hold of their dangerous water horses long enough to make it to the finish line. Ages 13 and up |
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The New Policeman By: Kate ThompsonIrish teenager JJ Liddy discovers that time is leaking from his world into Tir na nOg, the land of the fairies, and when he attempts to stop the leak he finds out a lot about his family history, the music that he loves, and a crime his great-grandfather may or may not have committed. Ages 12 and up |
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The Carnival at Bray By: Jessie Ann FoleyIt’s 1993, and sixteen-year-old Maggie Lynch is uprooted from big-city Chicago to a windswept town on the Irish Sea. Surviving on care packages of Spin magazine and Twizzlers from her rocker uncle Kevin, she wonders if she’ll ever find her place in this new world. When first love and sudden death simultaneously strike, a naive but determined Maggie embarks on a forbidden pilgrimage that will take her to a seedy part of Dublin and on to a life-altering night in Rome to fulfill a dying wish. Ages 14 and up |
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The Last Apprentice: A Coven of Witches By: Joseph DelaneyIn this story you’ll meet a fair and beautiful woman—with green scales running down her spine. You’ll encounter a dead witch who lurks under rotting leaves, hunting for blood, and a witch whose cry of revenge can kill. And you’ll follow Alice, Tom Ward’s best friend, back into her past, when she lived with one of the most dangerous witches of all. Are you ready to face the dark? Ages 12 and up |
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Selkie Girl By: Laurie BrooksWhen sixteen-year-old Elin Jean finds a seal pelt hidden at home and realizes that her mother is actually a selkie, she returns the pelt to her mother, only to find her life taking many unexpected turns. Ages 12-17 |
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Into the Grey By: Celine KiernanSet in Ireland in the early 1970s, this story stars twin brothers Patrick and Dom Finnerty, who have their world turned upside down when their house and all they possess is burned to the ground. Displaced, the family moves into their summer seaside cottage. Now in the middle of winter, the cottage seems dull, bleak, and quite eerie. Suffering from horrible nightmares, the boys’ bond of brotherly love is put to the test when they discover that the “goblin-boy” is not just a dream. Ages 12 and up |
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Long Story Short By: Siobhan ParkinsonFourteen-year-old Jono and his eight-year-old sister Julie run away when, soon after their grandmother’s death, their alcoholic mother hits Julie, but when the police find them in Galway, Jono learns he is in big trouble. Ages 12 and up |
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Daughter of the Forest By: Juliet MarillierSorcha, the seventh child and only daughter of Lord Colum, faces the difficult task of having to save her family from its enemies, who have bewitched her father and six older brothers while forcing her to choose between the life she has always known and a special love. Ages 14 and up |
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A Swift Pure Cry By: Siobhan DowdCoolbar, Ireland, is a village of secrets and Shell, caretaker to her younger brother and sister after the death of their mother and in the absence of their father, is not about to reveal hers until suspicion falls on the wrong person. Ages 14 and up |
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