Irish is an internationally known artist and author, whose acclaimed books include Great Book of Carving Patterns, Great Book of Celtic Patterns, Great Book of Dragon Patterns, Great Book of Tattoo Designs, The Official Vampire Artist's Handbook, Relief Carving
Wood Spirits, World Wildlife Patterns for the Scroll Saw, and many more.
The story follows the interaction of sisters Mei and Satsuki with friendly
wood spirits in postwar rural Japan, particularly a large spirit called Totoro.
Readers liked how girls are portrayed in these animated Japanese films including "Ponyo" (G; a girl fish and her quest to be human), "My Neighbor Totoro" (G; two sisters have fun with
wood spirits), "Spirited Away" (PG; Chihiro, 10, is trapped in an alternate universe), "Howl's Moving Castle" (PG; a curse turns Sophie into an old woman), "Kiki's Delivery Service" (G; Kiki, with her cat Jiji, is a plucky 1 witch-in-training), and "The iSecret World of Arrietty" (G; tiny creature Arrietty befriends Sho as they fight to survive).