In an interview with the Irish Times, author Louise Nealon provided the roots of the novel as being personal. When she was 18, she awoke in the middle of the night convinced she was dreaming someone else’s dream. This was immediately dismissed as delusions. In Ireland, psychiatry is not thought of as being necessary, although it’s improving. Nealon wanted to write a story about the silence of mental illness in Ireland because for her, psychiatry didn’t help her, but reading literature did. Veľmi dobre je tu zvládnutá téma dospievania. Nie je to zabalené do cukrovej vaty, proste poukazuje na to, že ten prechod zo strednej na vysokú nie je taký plynulý ako sa zdá. A môže byť miestami dosť krutý. Plus hlavná postava pochádza z dedinky neďaleko veľkého mesta a neskutočne sa mi páčilo ako sa to prelínalo/kontrastovalo spolu.

Louise Harland narrated the book and there could not have been a better person. She epitomises Debbie and really brings her character and little quirks to life.SO GROSS. There’s also two – TWO! – scenes describing Debbie raw-shaving her pubes. Why did I need to read this once, let alone twice?! She has the internet, she has a MACBOOK (despite her supposed poverty). GOOGLE. IT. I can’t imagine someone going through life without grasping the concept of the iconic six-armed snow crystal,’ I say. LITTLE SNOWFLAKE is a delightful story that explains the water cycle through the eyes of a small snowflake. Tiny drops of water freeze and turn into a snowflake, who travels down to the earth with the wind. It lands on a tree before heading to the ground, where children make it part of a snowball and then a snowman. When the sun comes out, they melt and become vapor that travels up to the sky, where they can again be made into snow. Final verdict: Bringing together all these lovely illustrations with educational elements make this a great read for any young child's library. LITTLE SNOWFLAKE is a great book to share with young learners/readers and teach them about the water cycle in the process. But really, [Alice] shouldn’t belong to anyone, least of all Lewis Carroll. She exists independently of him.’

This story can be enjoyed as a fun story about the little snowflake, as an explanation for where snow comes from, and/or as a larger education about the water cycle. I think this is the best book I have seen to teach the water cycle to young children so far! The happy little snowflake and friends bring these lessons in a very approachable way with so much fun. Debbie has various encounters with the psychology and psychiatry services, which she describes thusly. However, Debbie is starting college soon. She has to step out of her dwelling place, commutes to classes and meets new people. In the first week, she was overwhelmed and disappointed by her fellow students and the anonymity of city life. Eighteen-year-old Debbie was raised on her family’s rural dairy farm, forty minutes and a world away from Dublin. She lives with her mother, Maeve, a skittish woman who takes to her bed for days on end, claims not to know who Debbie’s father is, and believes her dreams are prophecies. Rounding out their small family is Maeve’s brother Billy, who lives in a caravan behind their house, drinks too much, and likes to impersonate famous dead writers online. Though they may have their quirks, the Whites’ fierce love for one another is never in doubt. Don’t apologise, Xanthe! Stop being friends with this asshole instead! Sometimes, the treasure was dumping the assholes you met along the way!

Little Forest Friends (Guided Science Readers: Animals—Level B)

This book is raw, dark and heartwarming all at the same time, and I absolutely loved it. I think Louise Nealon captured a girl on the cusp of the rest of her life so well, this absolute fine line between childhood and adulthood. A girl who absolutely does not know herself at all, does not know how to look after herself, and just needs to be kinder and more understanding to herself in all ways. This is very much a coming of age type novel, interspersed with some magical realism in a way thanks to Debbie and her mother's penchant for prophesising dreams, and Uncle Billy's reputation as a wise man. But is it really magical realism, or just a family with a bloodline that mean they are more sensitive to those around them, and the knowledge of the other plane of the world others have forgotten.