My Big Mouth by Steven Camden & Chante Timothy

Big lies mean big trouble in Steven Camden's funny and tender first novel for middle grade readers, 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 has performed his work all around the world from Manchester to Melbourne and Kuala Lumpur to California. In 2019, his first poetry collection for children Everything All at Once won the CLiPPA Award. My Big Mouth is Steven's first novel for middle grade readers.

Chanté Timothy is a freelance illustrator based in London, England. Her work focuses on children's illustration with an ever-growing passion for representation of minorities. Her drawings are bubbly, bright, and colorful, with lots of movement and energy. In addition to My Big Mouth, Chanté is also the illustrator of A Black Woman Did That, written by Malaika Adero.