From award-winning Northern Irish author and illustrator Paddy Donnelly, comes a beautiful new picture book story about the magic and wonder of nature that is all around us. It is inspired by the real, but very rare golden hare of Rathlin Island, just off the coast from Paddy’s hometown of Ballycastle in Antrim.
Paddy grew up on the beautiful North Antrim coast, surrounded by mythical stories of giants, magical creatures and shape-shifting animals. His storytelling reflects his love of nature and animals. Paddy’s first book as author and illustrator, the award-winning The Vanishing Lake, was based on a real lake close to Paddy’s childhood home. Paddy continues to seek inspiration from his homeplace in this new picture book following the adventures of Meara and Grandad.
Paddy Donnelly is an Irish author and illustrator living in Belgium who has illustrated many children’s books including Here Be Dragons, Míp, Hom, Wolves in Helicopters and many more. He is author-illustrator of such popular picture books as Dodos Are Not Extinct, Fox & Son Tailers and The Vanishing Lake. His work has achieved international acclaim. He has been nominated twice for the Yoto Carnegie Medal for Illustration, shortlisted for the World Illustration Awards and the Irish Book Awards, longlisted for the UKLA Book Awards, among others, and in 2023 his books won at both the KPMG Children’s Books Ireland Awards and the Literacy Association of Ireland’s Biennial Children’s Book Awards. Fox & Son Tailers has been translated into many languages, including Bulgarian, Catalan, Dutch, Estonian, French, Greek, Italian, Maltese, Romanian, Spanish, Turkish and Welsh.