Book Review: The Hoolet Thit Couldnae Fly

Thank you to the team at Luath for involving me in the book tour to celebrate the release of The Hoolet Thit Couldnae Fly by Emma Grae. I am hugely passionate about children's literature and the impact it can have on young people. In university I wrote my dissertation on the importance of Scottish children seeing themselves in the stories they read. That includes, seeing the language they speak in their day to day lives whether that be Scots, Doric, or any of the other beautiful dialects and languages spoken around Scotland. The Hoolet Thit Couldnae Fly by Emma Grae is a beautiful, tender and heartfelt story of a young girl losing something very dear to her, learning to cope with change and look past prejudices. All told in the rich voice of Emma, who uses Scots with a distinctly Glaswegian influence to create a warm, familiar, and comfortable feeling to a snow scattered tale.

The Hoolet Thit Couldnae Fly is stuffed to the brim with curiosity, humour, love, loss and wisdom. If I, as an adult(ish), found it profound I can only imagine how much it could give to a child. As someone who studied and loves Scots, it will always bring me such joy to see new Scots literature being published for future generations to grow up with and enjoy. I hope that seeing Scots being used in this way will act as a positive affirmation for Scottish folk, young and old, that their language is real. Something not just to be used in informal setting or among pals, but fit for everywhere. And fit to celebrated. With more high quality Scots stories like this one being published, let's raise a generation who are proud of the way they speak!

To hear what other people thought of Emma's fab book, check out the rest of the book tour!

Love, Grace xx