Once Upon a Place

by Eoin Colfer (Editor), PJ Lynch (Illustrator)

Overview

Once Upon a Place features six new poems by Irish poets alongside 11 new short stories from many of Ireland’s leading children’s writers including Roddy Doyle, Derek Landy and former Laureate na nÓg (a position awarded in Ireland to children's book creators) Siobhán Parkinson, as well as the first ever story for children by Academy Award nominee Jim Sheridan, director of My Left Foot and In America. It also features new work by Eoin Colfer himself, along with Pat Boran, Seamus Cashman, John Connolly, Marie-Louise Fitzpatrick, Mark Granier, Paula Leyden, Oisín McGann, Geraldine Mills, Jane Mitchell, Kate Newmann, Sarah Webb and Enda Wyley. Each of the stories and poems is based around the theme of place, being set in or inspired by a particular location within Ireland. Lavish black-and-white charcoal illustrations make this unique anthology a very beautiful object.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781910411377
Publisher:	Little Island Books
Publication date:	04/01/2017
Pages:	256
Sales rank:	843,445
Product dimensions:	6.20(w) x 8.10(h) x 1.00(d)
Age Range:	9 - 12 Years

About the Author

Eoin Colfer is the bestselling author of the Artemis Fowl series, which is soon to be filmed. He has also written And Another Thing, a sequel to Douglas Adams’s Hitch-hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. Eoin was the Children's Laureate of Ireland from 2014-2016. P.J. Lynch is widely regarded as Ireland’s finest illustrator, and is the current Children's Laureate of Ireland. He has won the Mother Goose award and the Kate Greenaway Medal (twice).

Hometown:

Wexford Town, County Wexford, Republic of Ireland

Date of Birth:

May 14, 1965

Place of Birth:

Waterford City, County Waterford, Republic of Ireland

Education:

Bachelor of Education, 1986; Education Diploma, 1987

Website:

http://www.eoincolfer.com

Read an Excerpt

It is quite possible that you read the title of this anthology and are now thinking to yourself: Once upon a Place? Surely that’s wrong. Surely that’s supposed to be Once upon a time. Everyone knows that. What kind of idiot would get the title of his own anthology project wrong? And this fellow is the Children’s Laureate? This moron is representing Irish children’s books?

Yes, I admit it. (Not the moron part, which has never been conclusively proven, as Facebook comments do not constitute proof.) What I am admitting to is that the line usually is Once upon a time and not Once upon a place, but place is important too, isn’t it? Stories have to be set somewhere. Treasure Island wouldn’t be much of a story without an island that had treasure on it. Gulliver’s Travels would have been pretty boring without Lilliput to land on. And the Chronicles of Narnia would have been a fairly brief series if there had been nothing at the back of Digory Kirke’s wardrobe but fur coats.

So, in my opinion, where a story is set is just as important as when it is set. Especially in Ireland. People often ask me, on my travels: Why do so many writers come from Ireland? And I tell them that the clue is in the question. It is because we are from Ireland and this is a magical place. Now, I know that the phrase ‘magical place’ is slightly overused and often undeserved. Generally people look back on their younger days and say stuff in pubs like: Janey, do you remember that beach we went to where there was that chip van? That place was magic. Often this kind of place is not really magical. Semi-magical at the most. Because we adults tend to get all sentimental about our youths. Rose-coloured spectacles and so forth. If you were to look at an old photograph of that beach, it would probably be a windswept stretch of pebbles with a dirty old unlicensed fast food caravan over by the wall. Now, don’t get me wrong. I’m not saying a manky old excuse for a beach can’t be magical if you got your first kiss there or better still your first choc-ice, because magic is very good at disguising itself.

But when kids are in a place, and right then at that moment while they are actually there, they often stop whatever shenanigans they are perpetrating and just look around them and think: This place is not so bad really – then that place probably is magic.

And there are places like that all over Ireland. I’m sure if you think about it, you could come up with a dozen or so magical spots yourself. Maybe your best friend’s garden, or the school handball alley, or the cluster of sockets in the corner of the sitting room where you can play Playstation and charge your phone at the same time. We all have our personal spots. And in this collection some of Ireland’s favourite writers are going to tell stories of their magical places. And remember, magic doesn’t always have to be all skeleton detectives and fairy police forces and Expecto Patronum; sometimes it can be finding a euro, or meeting a lad who’s double jointed or discovering a quiet spot to read your favourite book in. Personally I do like skeletons and explosions but that’s just me.

So, if my witty introduction hasn’t already persuaded you to read this book, let me further charm you with a taste of the wonders held within. You will read stories of magical pumping stations, adolescent detectives and transforming bears to name but a few. You will be absorbed by wonderful poems which conjure pictures of school holidays, bloodthirsty donkeys and travelling snails. And with every word you read you will be transported to various places around Ireland where magic is as warm and golden as the summer sun.

And by the time you close this book it will probably be very late and you will pull the duvet up around your ears, close your eyes and dream a dream which begins with a deep and wise voice saying the words: Once upon a place …

EOIN COLFER

Laureate na nÓg (2014–2016)

Editorial Reviews

"This book is a gift that could be given to any child of any age, the younger kids could be read to. But it’s also a gift we should buy for ourselves. Rarely does one find such a rainbow of outstanding talent in one little book, one truly exceptional anthology." —Sunday Independent


"A significant publication, affording ample evidence of the high quality of the best of our current children’s literature. It is a pleasure to add that the quality of the content is matched in this instance by the extremely attractive standards of the book’s production values." —Irish Times


“A thrilling compilation of short stories and poems." —Foreword Reviews 


"An excellent volume that will hopefully now reach a wide readership on this side of the pond." —School Library Journal


“[T]his collection. . . will have readers everywhere believing not only in the undeniable magic of Ireland but also the infinite possibilities of the imagination.” —Booklist

From the Publisher

06/01/2017
Gr 5 Up—Place rather than time is key in this anthology of short stories and poems by Irish writers, edited by popular Irish author Colfer. Whether real or imaginary, the settings are always specific and explore the importance, and magic, of place in the lives of individuals. Two immigrant siblings use an enclosed park as a refuge in a poignant entry by Jane Mitchell. In poet Pat Boran's hands, a run-of-the-mill bus stop becomes beautiful when a stranger receives incredible news from a loved one. Roddy Doyle uses a leap into the sea from the roof of a mysterious pumping station to reveal the jumper's future and how the place around him changes. A childhood home holds unimaginable guilt in a haunting tale by Jim Sheridan. Sarah Webb tells of a boy who finds a much-needed listener in feline form in the garden behind the library after his parents separate. Colfer, best known for his "Artemis Fowl" series, made the "Once upon a Place" theme his project as Laureate na nÓg (Ireland's Children's Laureate) from 2014 to 2016. He also contributes a selection about a princess taking charge of her life and saving her people, which includes a bit of satire of old-time storytellers. The work is illustrated by Lynch, now Laureate na nÓg himself, and his exquisite grayscale artwork teases out the mood of each piece and enhances the overall effect. VERDICT An excellent volume that will hopefully now reach a wide readership on this side of the pond.—Amanda Raklovits, Champaign Public Library, IL

School Library Journal

2017-04-17
An opening note from Colfer identifies this anthology as his project as (former) Laureate na nÓg to bring Irish children's literature to Ireland and abroad. As such, children this side of the pond will find some unfamiliar authors among others better known in the U.S. Whether story or poem, 17 works in all, place is center stage. Judging by some of the themes that carry through the collection—preternatural occurrences, memory, ghosts, family, loss, and, most of all, transformation—readers may well assume that that place, Ireland, has also shaped the sensibilities of the talents. Some pieces are easily digested, such as Marie-Louise Fitzpatrick's "Gren's Ghost," wherein two boys, unlikely partners, stage a prank in an ancient priory and one emerges with a new identity, or Colfer's contribution, "The Ram King," in which the daughter of a king fearlessly takes control of her own fate. Other image-rich pieces will be picked apart over a lifetime, such as a stranger's heartfelt relief in "Bus Stop," by Pat Boran, or a soul's voyage in "Stream Time," by Oisín McGann. Unsurprisingly, most of the characters are white, but Patricia Leyden acknowledges Ireland's growing multiculturalism with a story about a Japanese ghost. Under Colfer's editorial hand, pieces flow flawlessly from one to the next. Illustrator (and the new Laureate na nÓg) Lynch's charcoal illustrations not only capture settings, but gorgeously evoke emotion, whether tender, playful, searching, or searing. An eclectic collection for adventurous readers. (foreword, contributor bios) (Anthology. 11-14)

Kirkus Reviews