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Little Bang

Shortlisted for the Carnegie Medal for writing 2025; double-winner of the Children's Book Ireland Awards
By Kelly McCaughrain
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Brief Description
DOUBLE-WINNER KPMG CHILDREN'S BOOKS IRELAND AWARDS 2025 SHORTLISTED YOTO CARNEGIE MEDAL FOR WRITING 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... Read More
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DOUBLE-WINNER KPMG CHILDREN'S BOOKS IRELAND AWARDS 2025

SHORTLISTED YOTO CARNEGIE MEDAL FOR WRITING 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

Book Details

INFORMATION

ISBN: 9781406375725

Publisher: Walker Books Ltd

Format: Paperback / softback

Date Published: 04 January 2024

Country: United Kingdom

Imprint: Walker Books Ltd

Audience: Teenage

DIMENSIONS

Spine width: 24.0mm

Width: 128.0mm

Height: 198.0mm

Weight: 200g

Pages: 304

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2025 Best Sellers Best Sellers at Book Hero Children’s, Teenage and Educational Fiction In Stock Books In-Stock Fiction Books Kelly McCaughrain Young Adult

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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