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community · Tuesday 28 July 2026 · 4:00pm 
Radioactive Readers Book Club
At Portlaoise Library · 23 Lower Main Street, Portlaoise, Co. Laois
At Portlaoise Library · 23 Lower Main Street, Portlaoise, Co. Laois
Radioactive Readers is Portlaoise Library’s book club for children aged around seven to nine, meeting monthly on a Tuesday afternoon to talk about that month’s chosen book. It runs alongside separate clubs the library has set up for tweens and young adults, so children move through age-appropriate reading groups as they get older. The name gives a clue to the tone, this is meant to be fun and a little irreverent rather than a formal school-style book report session.
Each session is built around a book chosen in advance so members can read it before they meet, followed by an informal discussion led by library staff, usually with a related activity, game or craft tied to the book’s theme. Group sizes are kept small enough that every child gets a chance to talk about what they thought. The club is part of a wider push by Laois libraries to run age-specific reading groups rather than one general children’s book club, with separate strands for younger children, tweens and teenagers. Copies of the chosen title are usually available to borrow from the library in the run-up to each meeting, so joining partway through the year is straightforward.
Portlaoise Library is at 23 Lower Main Street in the town centre, close to the train station on the Dublin-Cork and Dublin-Limerick lines and the main bus stops.
Portlaoise’s courthouse, county museum and MW Hire O’Moore Park are all close to the library. There is more to see in Portlaoise and across Co. Laois.
Heading to Portlaoise Library in Portlaoise? Laois has plenty more to see. Read the Portlaoise area guide, find what else is on, and explore the towns and villages nearby.
In town for Portlaoise Library? These Dublin tours book out in summer.