The Lookout

A short story from the Fighting Words collection, BEYOND THE STARS, written and illustrated by two of the most outstanding talents in children’s fiction today

Ireland, 1955: Charley’s used to being lookout for Mammy – or ‘Sal Capone’, as she’s known in the local papers. He doesn’t want to be part of a criminal gang, but he’d rather that than have his mammy dragged off to prison; she’s only trying to keep him safe from Dad.

But on the day of Charley’s fourteenth birthday, when Mammy takes him along on her latest job – a hold-up at gunpoint of the village post office – Charley’s role changes and he has to protect her from the Guard. The stakes have been raised and Charley realises that the outcome of this crime could change their lives for ever. Will it be like in a Hollywood movie? Or will it be ‘like life in Ireland: cold and hard and with no happy ending’?

About the author
Eoin Colfer is best known for the Artemis Fowl series, which has topped the bestseller lists around the world and won numerous awards. He has also written the WARP series and the Legends series for younger readers, as well as crime books for adults. He lives in Wexford, Ireland, with his wife Jackie, his sons Finn and Seán and an overactive imagination. Eoin is currently the Irish Children’s Laureate, Laureate na nÓg.Marie-Louise Fitzpatrick is an author and illustrator. Her publications include the picture books There, The Sleeping Giant, I’m a Tiger Too! and I Am I, and the novels Timecatcher, Dark Warning, and Hagwitch. Her work has won the CBI Book of the Year Award four times. Marie-Louise lives in County Wicklow, Ireland.