The Stolen Child
The Stolen Child
hardback
Published:
6 October, 2025
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Description
Written when W.B. Yeats was just twenty-one, ‘The Stolen Child’ remains one of his most popular poems. At this time, the young poet was inspired by the landscape of County Sligo and the legends and superstitions he heard from the locals there. ‘The Stolen Child’ tells of a boy taken from his home by the faeries and led ‘hand in hand’ into their world. With its enchanting refrain – ‘Come away, o human child / To the waters and the wild’ – and vivid images of magic and nature, it is a pleasure for readers young and old.
Here, the text is accompanied by radiant original art by Erin Brown, each illustration taking us on a visual journey through one of Ireland’s most famous poems.
More Details
| Type | Book |
|---|---|
| ISBN13 | 9781788495172 |
| ISBN10 | 1788495179 |
| Number Of Pages | 32 |
| Item Weight | 440 g |
| Product Dimensions | 215 x 260 x 10 mm |
| Publisher / Reseller | O'Brien Press Ltd |
| Format | hardback |
Media Reviews
Recommended on RTE's Late Late Toy Show 2025's official list: https://www.rte.ie/lifestyle/living/2025/1205/1547511-every-toy-from-the-late-late-toy-show-2025/
-- The Toy Showthis edition offers new and superb illustrations that make for an immersive reading experience … a magical way to discover or rediscover one of Yeats’s most famous poems
-- Inis MagazineUnder Brown’s pencil imagery, Yeats’s well-known poem and the magical inhabitants of Sleuth Wood come alive on the page, creating an immersive reading experience. A magical way to discover or rediscover one of Yeats’s most famous poems.
-- CBI’s The Best Irish Books of 2025This stunning illustrated edition of one of Yeats's most popular poems makes for an immersive reading experience, as Brown leads the reader into the forbidden world of the fairy. A truly entrancing read that will be irresistible for poetry lovers and those wishing to escape a world full of weeping.
-- Irish ExaminerNorthern Irish illustrator Erin Brown's new picture book sets these lines fittingly against the striking back drop of Benbulben, while using swirling shades of blue and green as the "wandering water gushes from the hills above GlenCar, in pools among the rushes that scarce could bathe a star". The latter aquatic scene, also used as the book's cover, portrays the human child carried on currents with trout, frogs, and foaming white horses and is its standout image, capturing the sense of freedom promised in the waters and the wild … alluring, and lends itself perfectly to picture-book form for repeated reading aloud
-- Irish ExaminerWith lyrical language and enchanting imagery, it explores longing, wonder, and the pull between reality and imagination
-- PrimaryTeachersIrelandGoodReads Reviews
Author's Bio
ERIN BROWN is a Northern Irish illustrator who lives and works on the beautiful island of Jersey. After she graduated from the University of Ulster with a bachelor’s degree in Fine Art, a passion for stories and children’s books took hold. She combines her love for hand-drawn lines and traditional techniques with the flexibility and freedom of adding colour digitally. Erin’s other book for The O’Brien Press is Tread Softly: Classic Irish Poems for Children, edited by Nicola Reddy. erinbrownillo.uk
William Butler Yeats was an Irish poet and one of the foremost figures of 20th century literature. A pillar of both the Irish and British literary establishments, in his later years he served as an Irish Senator for two terms.