Marita with two of the school’s Gardening Club  

This year the country side is all a bloom with white and pale pink hawthorn blossom.  It is everywhere in the fields and hedges and roadsides, the fairy tree in all its glory giving a truly magnificent snowy display. I have never seen the like of it as I traveled to Waterford  to visit The Ursuline Primary School. I got a warm welcome  there and the  students and teacher Catherine Tuomey showed me a small hawthorn  tree they  had planted there over ten years ago to remind them all of reading ‘Under the Hawthorn Tree’.

The tree has grown and was just starting to blossom when to my surprise the school placed a plaque there in honour of my visit. The Ursuline School is one of the oldest schools in Waterford with amazing pupils, and even has a busy gardening club!

May is a lucky month because The Irish Public Library Borrowing figures have just come out.No surprise to discover that children’s books top the list and are borrowed more than any other books from the libraries across Ireland.

Top 20 Books Borrowed in Irish Public Libraries 2018:

1. Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone by JK Rowling
   2. Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Old School by Jeff Kinney
   3. The BFG by Roald Dahl
   4. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets by JK Rowling
   5. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban by JK Rowling
   6. Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Double Down by Jeff Kinney
   7. Awful Auntie by David Walliams
   8. Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Hard Luck by Jeff Kinney
   9. Wonder by RJ Palacio
   10. James and the Giant Peach by Roald Dahl
   11. Ratburger by David Walliams
   12. Matilda by Roald Dahl
   13. The World’s Worst Children by David Walliams
   14. Gangsta Granny by David Walliams
   15. Fantastic Mr Fox by Roald Dahl
   16. Demon Dentist by David Walliams
   17. Diary of a Wimpy: The Third Wheel by Jeff Kinney
   18. Grandpa’s Great Escape by David Walliams
   19. Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Cabin Fever by Jeff Kinney
   20. Under the Hawthorn Tree by Marita Conlon-McKenna

Delighted to see there at number 20  is ‘ Under the Hawthorn Tree‘ – the only Irish book by an Irish author!  As I say hawthorns are everywhere…. Marita and some great readers from The Ursuline Primary School, Waterford