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'''WINNER 2020 CILIP Carnegie Medal '''
I'll warn you first.
This is the fourth and last story about Nicky and Kenny. Try not to cry before you've even read the first page.
Things have got tense at home - again - for Nicky and his learning-disabled brother Kenny. Their mum is coming to visit - the mum who abandoned them a long time ago. They haven't seen her for years and the impending visit is stirring up a lot of uncomfortable feelings. And Nicky's girlfriend has ended things. To take their minds off it all, Nicky and Kenny plan a day out, trekking across the moors. But it doesn't go to plan and an accident puts both boys - and their dog, Tina, - in terrible danger.
I won't say more because you should read ''Lark'' for yourself. It's as gorgeous and life-affirming and as bittersweet and heartbreaking as you imagine. I cried and cried and cried. But I also smiled and laughed. Lots. I don't know what it is about Anthony McGowan, but he can write about the inner lives of young people with such wonderful detail and can tap in to the deepest wells of emotion without ever being saccharine or coy. Nicky has had a trying life, plagued by poverty, a missing parent, a parent with alcohol issues, trouble with bullies, and the responsibility of being a young carer for his brother. But somehow, the love he has for Kenny has carried him through. And who could dislike Kenny? A child of blunt speech, crazy obsessions and, despite disability, an unerring sense of right and wrong.