Chasing the Shy Town
By Erika McGann
Illustrated by Toni Galmés
Erika McGann spent her childhood in Drogheda where she went to St. Peter’s National School in Bolton Street. These days she lives in Dublin and writes books for children. Her latest work, “Chasing the Shy Town” is to be published by Little Island next week so we asked local girl Rosa Scollan from Le Chéile ETNS to review it for us.
Chasing the Shy Town is a heart-warming adventure story that children will enjoy but it is also about the search for the perfection that is expected of children by the adults in their lives and their peers.
The young hero of the book, Senan, uses his binoculars to spy out the Shy Town which is on a hill, with winding streets and red and yellow roofs. Senan calls it the Shy Town because it often hides and is hard to find.
He tells his next-door friend Joshua about the Shy Town, and they set off, with Senan’s grandmother in a ramshackle wheelchair, to find this elusive place.
The story tells of their adventures and the people they meet along the way such as a Shy Town creature called Krukles and a boy made of paper. Together they eventually find the Shy Town and they find that its real name is Perfection, because it is just that – perfect!
“Chasing the Shy Town” is aimed at children from the age of six upwards so Drogheda Life asked Kim Britton, a teacher at Le Chéile Educate Together National School if any of her students would read the book and write a review.
“Who did you say wrote the book?” Kim asked. “Erika McGann? That’s mad, I went to school with her, we were in the same class!”
One of Kim’s students, Rosa Scollan who is nine years old and lives at Golf Links Road in Bettystown, read Chasing the Shy Town and gave us the following review:
“I like this book, I like that Senan just wants to stay at home but he goes anyway. I give this book 8/10 because it is a good book and it is intriguing.
“At times it felt like it was written in the present tense. Not that that is a bad thing though!!
“I really like Kruckles. They are so funny! I would recommend this book for 7-10 year olds. It is intriguing because I really wanted to find out what Shy Town is!
“I really like this book!”
Author Erika McGann said: “The pressure to be perfect is something I remember feeling from a very young age, and it’s something I see in kids I work with now.
“In Chasing the Shy Town, the characters learn how ridiculous and terrible that pressure can be, and they learn to appreciate who they are and what they can do without feeling the constant need to do better.”
