Benny, a sports-obsessed, carefree kid, is convinced that he can take on the world—until he spends the summer living with his grandfather and meets resident tomboy and all-around tough-girl Babe Meara. Benny may be a wise guy, but Babe is at least three steps ahead of him. And now he's on her territory. A “townie” visiting for the holidays, Benny must accept the challenges of the country ways head-on. The locals play games by their own rules, and teasing the townie is a favorite pastime. When the serious business of earning money arises, Babe just might consider Benny as her partner, and possibly a friend. But things become very complicated, and dangerous, when the troublesome Furty Howlin wants a slice of the action.
Eoin Colfer (pronounced Owen) is the New York Times best-selling author
of the blockbuster Artemis Fowl series as well as Airman; Half Moon
Investigations; The Supernaturalist; Eoin Colfer's Legend of... books;
The Wish List; Benny and Omar; and Benny and Babe. He was born in
Wexford on the southeast coast of Ireland in 1965, where he and his four
brothers were brought up by his father (an elementary school teacher,
historian and artist of note) and mother (a drama teacher). He first
developed an interest in writing in primary (elementary) school with
gripping Viking stories inspired by history that he was learning in
school at the time.
Eoin got his degree from Dublin University and qualified as a primary
school teacher, returning to work in Wexford. He married in 1991 and he
and his wife spent about 4 years between 1992 and 1996 working in Saudi
Arabia, Tunisia and Italy. His first book, Benny and Omar, was published
in 1998, based on his experiences in Tunisia; it has since been
translated into many languages; a sequel followed in 1999. In 2001, the
first Artemis Fowl book was published worldwide to much success -
shortly thereafter he left teaching to concentrate fully on his writing.
To this day, Eoin has written 6 Artemis Fowl books which have sold over
12 million copies worldwide.
