PERHAPS A GIFT VOUCHER FOR MUM?: MOTHER'S DAY
Kelly McCaughrain's debut novel, Flying Tips for Flightless Birds, won an unprecedented hat-trick of awards at the 2019 Children's Books Ireland Awards, including Book of the Year, as well as the Northern Ireland Book Award. Kelly was the Children’s Writing Fellow for Northern Ireland 2019-2021 and she works at Belfast Met College as educational support for young adults with special needs. She says: “I get my best ideas from observing teens. I love their high ideals and natural barometer for injustice. I always want to write things that are worthy of their huge capacity to scrutinise the world and their place in it.” When she isn’t writing, she likes to travel with her 1967 classic campervan, Gerda, and her 1977 classic husband, Michael.
Full of authentic humour, youthful hyperbole and hope… McCaughrain is careful not to be didactic or reductive. In the end this is a story about young relationships and concerns with believable, sympathetic characters. -- Books of the Year * The Big Issue * Little Bang is both warm and wise and its exploration of teenage pregnancy and abortion feels rooted in reality. * The Bookseller * I found myself both smiling and frowning as I read. A fantastically clever novel which feels completely relevant. -- Sarah Crossan Reading it, I had a sense that I was hand in hand with my teenage self… A book that prompts conversation and compassion; a book about choices and timelines and connection, and deep, lonely courage. -- Deirdre Sullivan, author of Savage Her Reply Romantic, funny, important. -- Jenny Ireland, author of The First Move
