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Doyle's Booker Prize-winning novel, told from the perspective of Irish, working-class 10-year-old Paddy Clarke, was a seven-week PW bestseller. (Jan.) From: Reed Elsevier Inc. Copyright Reed Business Information

Paddy Clarke is ten years old. He lives with his ma and da, his younger brother Sinbad (``at home he was Francis''), and two baby sisters in the Dublin working-class neighborhood of Barrytown. Paddy spends his days with his friends Kevin, Aiden, and Liam, roaming local construction sites (it's the late 1960s, and suburbia is creeping over the Irish countryside), writing their names in wet cement, conducting Viking funerals for dead rats, and torturing Sinbad (``Big brothers hated their little brothers. They had to. It was the rule.''). At night, Paddy listens vigilantly for the sounds of his parents fighting, whispering the magic word ``Stop'' to end it. Filled with the same earthy humor and pungent Irish dialog that marked Doyle's earlier novels ( The Commitments , Vintage, 1989; The Snapper and The Van , LJ 7/92), this book is also a vivid and poignant portrait of a little boy trying to make sense of the adult world. As Paddy Clarke himself would say, it is `` brilliant,'' well deserving of the 1993 Booker Prize . The U.S. publication date of this book was changed from April 1994 to December after it won the prize.--Ed.-- Wilda Williams, ``Library Journal'' From: Reed Elsevier Inc. Copyright Reed Business Information

YA-A look at the daily exploits and thoughts of a 10-year-old Irish boy. As the story progresses, readers become more and more aware of the anguish that Paddy Clarke is feeling as he becomes conscious of the impending breakup of his parents' marriage. They may find it disconcerting to see the pain he inflicts on others (preferably younger or weaker boys) for the sheer ``fun'' of it and the dangerous antics of Paddy and his friends. The novel is powerfully written and slowly draws readers into the protagonist's complex personality. However, in spite of the critical acclaim the book has gotten, its lack of a straightforward plot and its violence and petty lawlessness to the exclusion of the character development may limit its appeal to YAs.-Shirley Blaes, R.E. Lee High School, Springfield, VA From: Reed Elsevier Inc. Copyright Reed Business Information

Roddy Doyle is the author of five previous novels, including a Booker Prize nominee, The Van, and a Booker Prize winning international bestseller Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha. He has also written several screenplays, most recently When Brendan Met Trudy. His first children's book, The Giggler Treatment, will be published in September by Scholastic. He lives in Dublin. Distributed by Syndetic Solutions, Inc.