Frogs and Snails and Puppy Dog’S Tales

Book excerpt: Ten-year-old Red Morgan and Po Hillen are the best of friends growing up in Newry, Northern Ireland, in the late 1950s. Its an adventurous time for these boys who always seem to be at the center of a little mischief. At school, they are part of a class known as 3C. They are generally unruly, argumentative, manipulative, conniving, and devious, or, in the terms of the modern educationalist, a challenge. But these 3C students face their own challenges every day. They have to devise strategies well in advance of their classes to outwit their weary teachers, plan little ways to annoy, cajole, divert, and dodge. Outside school, their lives reflect the poverty and innocence of the times where they have some unbelievable and hilarious situations with often intriguing and hair-raising outcomes. Through the eyes of Red and Po, Frogs and Snails and Puppy Dogs Tales takes a nostalgic journey through the streets, shops, and cafs of Newry, a small picturesque town on the Irish border.