By Staff Reporter

Sonas and Daithí by Orlagh McDonald was the winning title of IT Blanchardstown’s Design a Book Project.

McDonald, aged 23 from Lucan in west Dublin, will see her book published and made available in Fingal libraries to support personal, social and emotional development for children up to the age of six.

The winning book was selected by a panel of judges, including lecturer Margaret O’Donoghue, children’s author Joe O’Brien and senior executive librarian Yvonne O’Brien, following two showcase events at IT Blanchardstown’s early childhood care and education room where the students read their stories to two junior infants’ classes from Sacred Heart of Jesus in nearby Huntstown.

The Design a Book Project is a new collaboration between the IT Blanchardstown (ITB) and Fingal County Council libraries to encourage civic engagement.

As part of the their fourth-year module on ‘Creative Interventions for the Personal Social and Emotional Development of Children’ in the BA programme for Early Childhood Care and Education, 33 students were required to design and develop a story book that could support children’s personal, social and emotional development.

The assignment also required students to read their stories to senior infant children from a local school.
“The feedback from the students having completed the module was very positive,” said O’Donoghue. “They particularly enjoyed engaging with the children and the very practical aspect of the project.

“Author Joe O’Brien commented on the very high standard of books presented and thought that the level of work, creativity and thought that went into each book was amazing, and was reflected in the children’s engagement with each student’s presentation.”
O’Brien added: “The artistry in some books was very striking, notably Palu and Lulu in the Bamboo Forest, Mossie the Monster Goes To School, Bo the Horse, Misty, Bernard Bear’s Car is Missing, and Lily Stands up to the Class Bully.”

Two runners up of the Design a Book Award were Mossie the Monster Goes to School by Eileen Griffin, aged 25 from Tralee, and Sam and a Long Day by Jordaine Cunningham, aged 25 from Poppintree, north Dublin.