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Beanie The Bansheenie

Steve McCarthy

Walker (7+) 9781529513172 (Hardback)

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Imagining the origins of the Banshees of Irish folklore as babies or Bansheenies. Rather than being portents of doom, Beanie decides she wants to find a way to protect her person, Rose, and her family. Vivid visual storytelling, a limited colour palette, intertextual filmic elements and use of silhouette create a memorable and immersive setting which draws on traditional Celtic motifs using a contemporary lens.Quite literally an immersive read with many spreads being set underwater!

Themes:

  • Folklore 
  • Friendship 
  • Humour

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Steve McCarthy

Steve McCarthy is an Irish designer, illustrator, and bearded gentleman. His debut author-illustrator title, The Wilderness, won the KPMG Children’s Books Ireland Awards 2023 honour award for illustration and was shortlisted for a Yoto Carnegie Medal for Illustration. His poetry anthology with Sarah Webb, A Sailor Went to Sea, Sea, Sea was the 2017 Children’s Book of the Year at the Irish Book Awards. Steve previously worked as a background designer, most
notably for the animated feature film Song of the Sea, which was nominated for an Academy Award in 2015. He lives in south east London. Find Steve online at www.mrstevemccarthy.ie, and on Twitter and Instagram as @mrstevemccarthy.

Shadowers' reviews and artwork

The cover of the book has patterns on it that also appear in the book on some pages. The shape in the middle that Beanie was in was a bit like the eye that he was formed in. Each double-spread page is only using one main colour theme (mainly green or pink). The text is never in the middle of the page. It is always put aside of the illustrations. I think the illustrations describe the text well because they don't look like they would exist in reality. Also the picture of Beanie that uses two pages is in the middle of the book so that shows that Beanie plays a very important in this story.

Carlotta

Orpington Library Chatterbooks Group