Felicity McCall

Fifteen-year-old Aimée McCourt Logan, a Derry girl who attends 'inclusive' Castle Grove College, must find a way to balance the demands of friends old and new when she is 'twinned' with Caoimhe, a pupil at Knockgorey School in Foxrock, south Dublin. As she gets to know Caoimhe through their online interaction, and through phone-calls, Aimée also finds herself developing a crush on her new friend's older brother, Darren. Meanwhile, at home in Derry, her best friends Beks and Bree both seem to be drifting away, as they become involved with boys of their own. Is Aimée abandoning her 'real' friends for her virtual ones, or are the Derry trio growing apart? Things come to a head when Caoimhe and Darren visit for the Hallowe'en weekend, and Beks and Bree both find themselves involved in their boyfriends' troubles...

Although not the sort of fare I normally read - the Young Adult fiction I enjoy tends to be more fantastic or dystopian, rather than revolving around adolescent romance and angst - I did find Large Mammals, Stick Insects & Other Social Misfits an engaging book. I picked it up largely because it was published by Little Island, a small Dublin-based children's publisher owned and run by Irish children's author Siobhán Parkinson - I like to support independent publishers, as I find their catalogues more carefully and thoughtfully curated - and because it was set in Derry. Other than Joan Lingard's series of novels about Kevin and Sadie, which occur during the Troubles, and Sheena Wilkinson's excellent Taking Flight and Grounded (also Little Island publications!), set in contemporary Belfast, I've not run across too many Young Adult books set in Northern Ireland. However that may be, I found Felicity McCall's text lighthearted and engaging. I appreciated that Caoimhe's disability was included in such a matter-of-fact way - Aimée isn't even aware that her new friend suffers from debilitating arthritis, and must often use a wheelchair, until shortly before her visit - and that it isn't the focus of the book. It's something the characters must address, but it isn't Caoimhe's defining quality or 'issue,' and it doesn't detract from the humor of the tale. I wouldn't say I was particularly moved, or deeply involved with the characters emotionally, but this was an entertaining read, one I would recommend to readers looking for young adult fare that addresses virtual vs. 'real'-life friends, or that is set in Derry.… (mais)