Slug and the Snail

An USBBY Outstanding International Book 2025

An illustrated own-voices fable about self-acceptance and pride from a member of the Irish Traveller nomadic ethnic minority

Drawn from the Irish Traveller oral storytelling tradition, DeBhairduin's tale is a gentle allegory about difference, self-acceptance and different ways of seeing the world.

Two slugs travel happily together as brothers, until they meet a crow who shows them that they have no home. Ashamed, one of the slugs decides to make himself a home, and calls himself snail.

The brothers grow apart and become suspicious of each other. The slug with no shell-house feels ashamed until he learns to see that the very road he travels is his home, and so he shall never be homeless.

The happy slug no longer sees himself through the judging eyes of others, but proudly asserts his place in the world and the two brothers travel happily together once more.