Old favourites

As Ireland embraces a new intercultural identity, we want to acknowledge that the Traveller community, as Ireland’s indigenous minority group, is an important part of that identity. Clotty Malotty and all her Friends focuses on rhymes from the settled and Traveller communities of North Dublin. We hope this book will be a stimulus to explore rhymes from different cultures around the world and inspire teachers to make their own collections reflecting the heritage of the children.

Written and illustrated by children from Finglas, County Dublin, Ireland.

‘Vibrant and attractive...a refreshing resource for new rhymes and an archive of rhymes otherwise likely to be lost from the largely oral culture of the Traveller community.‘ Cross–currents magazine, a guide to multicultural books for young people.

Can’t Lose Cant is the world’s first book on Cant. In the format of a pictionary in Cant, English and Irish, it opens up the treasure of the old language of Irish Travellers, a language that has been in decline for some time. This book is intended to bring Cant to a wider audience. It can also be used as a stimulus to explore our attitudes to minority languages and diversity at home and abroad. We hope this book will be a support to teachers who want to build respect for others, value diversity and challenge racism in their classroom.

Written and illustrated by children in County Kildare, Ireland.

‘This is a highly imaginative, accessible and passionately conceived celebration of diversity, enabling communication, mutual respect and exchange among diverse elements in Ireland. The fact that it is authored by children for children is enormously hopeful and promising. In a broader context, it offers children the opportunity to be teachers to their peers, and presents a model for raising awareness of language diversity.’ Cross–Currents magazine.

Stand Up Sit Down has a focus on friendship from a child’s perspective. In order to create an experiential workshop, Traveller and settled children from a girl’s school and a boy’s school came together to explore this theme; how we get to know one another, like one another and begin to work together. The stories the children wrote, and the images they created and designed, reflect truthfully the difficulties that can befall us all.

A selection of short stories about friendship and conflict from children in Navan, Co. Meath, Ireland.

“Each story has a realisation of taking steps forward to understanding one another, and getting on together. It captures the essence of intercultural education and indeed could be used as a resource in the S.P.H.E. curriculum.” Mary Branley, Intercultural Consultant with Kid’s Own Publishing Partnership

This beautiful book of watercolours and poetry by The Devenish Group launched in April 2002 in Enniskillen, Co. Fermanagh, Northern Ireland, UK.

Orla Kenny at Kids’ Own worked with an after schools group for just four weeks to help them illustrate a collection of their poetry.

Charlie Barley and all his Friends is a collection of nursery rhymes, jokes and tall tales. The artwork was created using a variety of techniques, including pastels, charcoal drawings and card printing, to accompany the text. This book can be used in the classroom to explore rhymes from our own culture and others around the world, as well as fun reading material.

Written and illustrated by children in Sligo from St Edward’s National School, Our Lady of Mercy Primary School and St Enda’s National School.

Publications such as this should be in every classroom, acting as a valuable source of delight and inspiration to teacher and child alike.’ Robert Dunbar, Inis magazine.

Traveller children along with their parents and grandparents worked on this book. Many of the poems will be new to you! A series of workshops took place in 3 schools in Sligo to generate artwork and to design the book for other children to enjoy. 46 children, Traveller and non-Travellers worked with artist Orla Kenny in printmaking, drawing and designing the finished book.

Two established artists also contributed art for ‘Charlie Barley’; Dermot Seymour and Diarmuid Delargy.