Cloud Babies - Eoin Colfer; M Chris Judge (Paperback) 05-10-2023 Short-listed for The Irish Book Awards 2022 (Ireland).

From Eoin Colfer, author of Artemis Fowl, comes a truly compelling, empathy-building book based on real life events in illustrator Chris Judge's own life. Erin's favourite game is spotting animals in the clouds with her mum and dad. She calls them her "cloud babies". One day, Erin falls very ill. She has to spend a long time in hospital but she still manages to find comfort and joy in spying cloud babies through the windows with her new hospital friends. When Dr Bernadette tells Erin that even though there would still be some "hospital days", she can now go home, she is so excited. But being back at school is not at all what she expected. Erin must reconcile the comforting, safe world she has built for herself inside the hospital with the world outside that has now become unfamiliar to her. But with her Mum and Dad's love and guidance, and with the support of her school teacher and friends, Erin realizes that by sharing her world, and her cloud babies, she will find happiness in being herself once more. Sensitively told and vibrantly brought to life on the page, this is a truly powerful source of guidance, acknowledgement and, ultimately, comfort.