Best Books about Ireland for Kids

This lovely Irish children’s book features Spuds Potsofgold, a leprechaun whose first day of summer is not going well at all after losing his crock of gold and the onset of non-stop sneezing. As his trials and tribulations continue, his wife Rose carries on regardless.

However, as autumn comes he learns a valuable lesson through his sneezing fits and eventually recovers his crock of gold. It is a lovely story book with beautiful illustrations and is a regular feature at bedtime in our house.

Let’s See Ireland is one of the best Ireland travel books for kids. It follows Molly as she and her family set off on a holiday around Ireland. They visit many of the famous tourist attractions in Ireland including Glendalough and Bunratty Castle, while their poor cat Mipsy gets left behind. Or does she?

This lovely Irish children’s book has beautiful illustrations of some of the best places to visit in Ireland with kids and there is a fun ‘hide-and-seek’ game throughout the book. Look out for it, I won’t spoil it. The story and the pictures are suitable for kids from a small age, so can be enjoyed by all the family.

One of the fun Ireland books for kids in our collection is The Adventures of Shamrock Sean. Sean is a lively leprechaun who lives in the west of Ireland and this book features three stories about his adventures.

Sean loves fishing and digging and also likes to lend a helping hand. However, despite his best efforts he always seems to find trouble. My son loves this book, especially the story about the birds nest. It is a light-hearted book and contains fun and bright pictures. This is probably my son’s favourite of our books that take place in Ireland.

Two of our other favourite kid’s books about Ireland are the series of books about the Irish President. These books feature the current Irish President, Michael D Higgins and tell the story of his cat being left behind after their vacation, and an important day when he forgot his glasses at Áras an Uachtaráin (the presidential residence in the Phoenix Park).

A Dublin Fairytale is an Irish children’s book set in Dublin. Fiona’s granny is sick and her mother sends her on an errand to collect the ingredients she needs to make a witches brew that will make her better. However, Fiona’s journey is not a simple one and she meets some fantastic characters along the way.

This is a short storybook that is suitable for young kids who are used to hearing about trolls and wolves and dragons. My son enjoys this book, although I’d say that out of all our Ireland books, this is the one he least reaches for when we are reading our Irish story books.

If you are looking for some Irish children’s books that include nursery rhymes, then Sally Go Round The Stars is the one you want. Combining traditional nursery rhymes with old Irish songs, this book is ideal for reading to younger members of the family and bringing back memories of your own childhood. There were some I’d forgotten about and even a few I hadn’t heard before. And while my son is getting a bit old for this book, he enjoyed some of the rhymes when he was younger.

This book is all about the traditional tales and legends of Ireland with very beautiful illustrations that invoke memories of Ireland for me. Full of Irish myths and legends stories for children, you can learn about the Children of Lír, Cúchulainn and the tale of the Giant’s Causeway, among others. If you are looking to discover Ireland’s traditional tales, told from generation to generation, then this is the perfect book to do it with.

If you are looking for some children’s books about Ireland to start introducing them to the history of Ireland, then start with Brian and the Vikings. Brian is a small village boy who, along with his friends, manages to defeat some scary Vikings who arrive to attack their village.

Brian Boru grew up to become the High King of Ireland and this book is a lovely little book with charming illustrations to start introducing some Irish history to kids. My son enjoys this book, especially as it features his favourite creature, a dragon.

A wonderful learning book about Ireland for kids is The Great Big Book of Irish Wildlife Through the Seasons. This 80-page book takes you on a journey around Ireland through the seasons and shows you the flora and fauna you can find on the island of Ireland during the four seasons.

While some are residents all year round, some are visitors and the book will teach you the best time to spot these visitors to Ireland. This is a brilliant book to incorporate learning about nature on Ireland and is a must for any collection of Ireland books for kids. I love this book, except for page 43 which features the picture of a basking whale’s open mouth. They are one of my least favourite whales and this picture gives me the heebie-jeebies.

This is my personal favourite of all our books about Ireland. Irelandopedia is filled with fun facts for kids about Ireland, divided into the 32 counties. Two pages are dedicated to each county of Ireland and is filled with facts about the county including rivers that flow through them, landmarks to visit and famous people from the county. Young kids will enjoy the illustrations while older kids will enjoy discovering everything there is to know about Ireland.