Fox & Son Tailers By Paddy Donnelly

A beautiful book anchored in a simply brilliant idea … a world where animals have no tails: call in the Tailers! Genius.

Joseph Coelho, in The Guardian

A beautiful story with a heart-warming ending … and with foxes! I love it.

Chris Haughton

The fox gets a poor deal in stories. The scourge of every henhouse, not even gingerbread men are safe from his jaws, and the ‘sly’ creature forever doomed to take the bad-guy role in almost every fable and fairytale. Even though we may admire his intelligence, a vulpine character can never be trusted, for fear his cunning will be turned to nefarious purpose. It is delightful, therefore, to step through the doors of Fox&Son, ‘Makers of the Finest Traditional Tails’, into an elegant world of top hats and tweeds. It is, indeed, a tale of tails, and what fine bushy tails they are too. Young Rory’s father, whose name, by some strange quirk of fate, is Fox, is a tailer, like his father and grandfather before him. Animals arrive from far and wide to have their measurements taken and speciality tails of all shapes and sizes created to their own specifications. … Rory, however, is bored of helping his father to make the same old tails, day in, day out. He longs to put his designs for fancy, feathery, flamboyant fashions into practice but Fox is not impressed with such “silly things”. Despite his father’s conservatism, Rory sneaks into the workshop when everyone is asleep and continues to let his imagination run wild, creating “wacky ideas” for colourful tails designed to showcase the wearer’s individuality. The determination to overcome the scepticism of others and follow his dreams pays dividends for Rory in this uplifting celebration of originality, beautifully presented in vibrant hues by Antrim-born author-illustrator Paddy Donnelly

The Echo

like all of Paddy's books, is another gem. It's a beautifully published and produced hardback … There are so many parts of this book to love – from the heartwarming tale to the stunning, rich illustrations and the underlying message. To start with the illustrations, there is no denying how beautiful Fox and Son Tailers is! The pictures are incredibly detailed – there are so many little bits to look at and talk about … favourite was the double-page spread of the peacock wearing his new tail – stunning. The colour palette is rich and warm – perfect for an autumnal bedtime story. The message behind the story is a worthy one too. It's about the value of creativity, trying out new things, believing in yourself and so much more…Utterly lovely book, well worth a read to appreciate its beauty and warmth

@literate.littles

cleverly written and wonderfully illustrated, this is a must have … will have readers of all ages smiling

MyShelvesAreFull

I love Fox and Son Tailers … A charming story with detailed, witty illustrations. Age 3+

Sarah Webb

I’m suddenly a huge fan. His artwork is vibrant, playful and clever. “Fox and Son Tailer” is great and it’s not a spelling mistake. They make tails. It’s also a lovely book about creativity. Great stuff

Simon Smith @smithsmm

quite simply a charming children’s story …The writing is a mix of both prose and verse which adds cadence to this whimsical yet sentimental little tale about embracing your creativity and discovering that the people you know the best can still surprise you. Donnelly’s digital illustrations are wonderfully textured and inventive, there’s even a secret adventure if you follow the mice on every page. Another triumph of storytelling from the author of the captivating children’s book The Vanishing Lake

Irish Examiner

The illustrations by Donnelly are humorous, colourful, and very detailed. The illustrations allow for plenty of talk and discussion. I would recommend this book for children ages 4-7. This story could also be integrated into a literacy lesson to help explore themes about families, animals, and encourage students to explore their own creativity through the visual arts. The story would be very useful as a resource to teach the reading comprehension strategies of comparing, connecting and creating images in the junior classes

Seomra Ranga