Little Bang by Kelly McCaughrain, Paperback, 9781406375725 | Buy online at The Nile
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Little Bang

Shortlisted for the Carnegie Medal for writing 2025

Author: Kelly McCaughrain   Series: Never Trust a Gemini

Little Bang
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SHORTLISTED YOTO CARNEGIE MEDAL FOR WRITING 2025
SHORTLISTED KPMG CHILDREN'S BOOKS IRELAND AWARDS 2025
LONGLISTED UKLA BOOK AWARD 2025
A 2025 READ FOR EMPATHY BOOK
SUNDAY TIMES IRELAND BEST CHILDREN'S BOOKS 2024

"A fantastically clever novel" - Sarah Crossan
"Everyone who loved Derry Girls, this is the book for you!" - Sarah Webb
"Full of authentic humour, youthful hyperbole and hope" - Big Issue, Books of the Year 2024
"A smart, deeply moving book" - The Irish Times
"A beautifully written romance that pulls you in different directions" - Scotland on Sunday
"Authentic humour and heartbreak" - The Sunday Times Ireland


A bittersweet romance that takes a new look at teen pregnancy, the magic and mess of first relationships, and a young woman's right to choose her own future.

Beneath the New Year's Eve fireworks, shy science-nerd Mel and slacker songwriter Sid get pregnant on their first date. Any sixteen-year-olds would expect trouble – but this is Northern Ireland 2018, where abortion is still illegal. Mel's religious parents insist she must keep the baby, whilst Sid's feminist mum pushes for a termination.

Mel and Sid are determined to do this together, but they soon discover that pregnancy is totally different for boys and girls. When their relationship starts to fall apart under all the pressure, Mel finds herself feeling alone with the impossible dilemma of the Little Bang growing inside her.

"Deeply true. A book to press into the hands of others" - Deirdre Sullivan

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Awards

Short-listed for KPMG Children's Books Ireland Award 2025 (UK) Long-listed for The Carnegie Medal 2025 (UK) Long-listed for UKLA Book Award 2025 (UK)

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Critic Reviews

McCaughrain uses the backdrop of the Repeal the Eight campaign south of the Border to good effect… This is a nuanced and thoughtful engagement with the issues, rather than a polemic; the teenage and adult characters are fully developed and complex. A smart, deeply moving book. Irish TImes
This novel is authentic, using humour and heartbreak to cover a difficult subject. It is understated and adeptly written, with honesty and respect for its characters and its audience. The Best Irish Children’s Books 2024’, The Sunday Times (Ireland)
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
Drawing on the events surrounding the 2018 Irish referendum on the eight amendment, McCaughrain shines a harsh light on the lack of sexual education for teenagers in school systems, opening the space for all to enter and discuss. Children’s Books Ireland, Editor’s Choice
This is a story that needs to be told and the authenticity and sensitivity with which it is told, bears witness to the award-winning author’s direct experience in schools and the stories she has heard from young people… Moving, compassionate and beautifully told this is an essential and important taboo- breaking book for young people to read. LoveReading4Kids

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About the Author

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.

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Product Details

Publisher
Walker Books Ltd
Published
4th January 2024
Pages
304
ISBN
9781406375725

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