Books are my business: Bookshop children's section manager Méabh McDonnell

Irish Examiner

6 days ago

Méabh McDonnell is children's section manager with Charlie Byrne's bookshop in Galway.
She is also the author of a middle-grade novel, Into the Witchwood. Her YA book, Any Way You Slice It, is available to pre-order.
How did you get into bookselling?
I have always had a big interest in children's books and children's writing, and would have been aware of what was going on in children's books and publishing in general.
I used to work as a sub-editor in a regional newspaper, and about six years ago, I was looking for a change.
I had always been interested in working in a bookshop, and I sent my CV into Charlie's and, as it happened, they were looking for someone who had an interest in children's books.
Within about two weeks, it was like: 'This is where I am meant to be.'
I would have been familiar with Charlie's from a fairly young age, and I was a long-time customer before I started working there.
Sometimes I have a nice little 'pinch me' moment where I think about how excited my younger self would be if she knew I had a copy of the keys.
It is particularly rewarding and special to be a children's bookseller.
What does your role involve?
My days are often very different. I would generally come in and maybe go through the previous day in sales.
Then, at some point during the day, we would get deliveries in and I put out new books.
I spend a certain amount of my day researching new titles, and maybe on the phone with sales reps or meeting them about books we want to buy in.
At certain times of the year, I might go over to the UK to buy new stock.
If it's a Saturday, we have a free story-time session that I run where we read from picture books for about an hour.
On other days, I might have a children's book club on, where a group of kids come in to talk about a different book every month.
We also might have author visits or school visits. For example, today I was down at a school talking to them about stocking a new library.
What do you like most about it?
My favourite part is talking to a child about a book that I've recommended to them and seeing it click with them, where they have fallen in love with not just the book but with the idea of reading and they want to find that magic again.
There's nothing like seeing that, particularly with children who maybe were reluctant readers or thought reading wasn't for them.
I believe that there is a book out there for every child.
What do you like least about it?
If somebody is looking for something specific and I don't have it or I can't find it. I will try to order it for them, or I try to track down a copy, but sometimes you just can't quite lay your hand on something.
Luckily, it doesn't happen that often and usually you can find something else.
As we often say about Charlie's, you'll always go away with something.
Three desert island books
Philip Pullman's Northern Lights was one of the first books I read as a teenager that I felt really captured something bigger than itself.
It's a book that I return to a lot and it still makes me cry.
I'm cheating a bit with the next one, which would be the Ursula Le Guin Earthsea Cycle.
I remember being amazed by the scope of it and by the sophistication of the writing — it felt so philosophical and magical.
My third pick would be I Capture the Castle by Dodie Smith — I remember reading it for the first time when I was about 17 and being so captivated by the main character, Cassandra Mortmain.
It sat perfectly between a classic novel and one that was more modern.