My Big Mouth
Big lies mean big trouble for Jay and his mates. Funny and tender, My Big Mouth, CLiPPA Award-winner Steven Camden's brilliant first novel for readers of 8 to 11, is about friendship, storytelling and the price of being cool. Brilliantly illustrated throughout by Chanté Timothy.
‘They think I’m cool.’
Dom’s face wrinkled up, ‘Who does? Who cares?’
But I did. I cared.
When Dad leaves, ten-year-old Jay has questions.
Where has he gone?
Why did he go?
When no one can give Jay the answers he needs, he makes up his own stories, setting off a chain reaction that sees regular old Jay go from just another face in the crowd, to the centre of attention.
But being the coolest kid in school comes at a cost. And as things spiral out of control, can the most unlikely person help him learn the most important lesson of all?
Steven Camden is one of the UK's most acclaimed spoken word artists. He writes for stage, page and screen, teaches storytelling and leads creative projects all over the place. In 2019, his first poetry collection for children Everything All at Once won the CLiPPA award. He is also the author of My Big Mouth.
He has performed his work all around the world from Manchester to Melbourne and Kuala Lumpur to California. He moved to London for a girl, but Birmingham is where he's from.
He also has a thing for polar bears.
Chanté Timothy is an illustrator who creates work that often explores different themes of diversity. She loves experimenting with movement, expression and storytelling through her characters. Chanté’s first book debut called A Black Woman Did That by Malaika Adero in 2020 helped kick start her passion for children’s book illustration. Drawing for as long as she can remember, she’d always been that strange kid who’d ask for paper and pen to entertain herself instead of playing with dolls.