Welcome to the official site of Tom McCaughren, Irish author.       GREAT NEWS!! After a lifetime writing books for readers of all ages, I have embarked on something new. O' Brien Press asked me to write a story for a pitcure book! It was a pleasure to do so and I am delighted to tell you that work on the book is underway with publication planned for the autumn.  All I can say at this stage, it is about the adventures of a fox cub as it leaves its mother and ventures out for the first time.  When young children read the story and feast their eyes on the beautiful illustrations, they will be transported into a world that fascinates them every bit as much as it fascinates the fox cub. But will the cub find its way home? That's the question.   Meanwhile demand for my fox books for older readers continues.   There are seven books in the series and they are for the 9-90 age group, Penguin publishing some of them for adults, Puffin publishing the same books for young people. The seven are:    Run with the Wind  Run to Earth  Run Swift Run Free Run to the Ark Run to the Wild Wood Run for Cover  Run to the Hills    Run with the Wind, Run to Earth and Run Swift Run Free are in Donleavy's Top 100 books of all time in Ireland. See http://www.jpdonleavycompendium.org/irish_top_100.html                                         There's been a great reaction to the new edition of RUN WITH THE WIND, the first book in the fox series. Forced to flee from the fur trappers in the Land of Sinna, the foxes encounter many adventures as they search for the secret of survival. Described as a wildlife winner for all ages, Run with the Wind has been enjoyed by generations of readers, one of whom told me, 'It is mine to wander in and wonder in.' It is now available to new generations to do the same and I hope they enjoy it. RRP €9.99 epub €5.99 http://www.obrien.ie/run-with-the-wind     No. 5 in the series, Run to the Wild Wood had been out of print for some time, but in response to many requests a brand new edition is now available. So all seven in the Run to the Wind series are in print and readily available. enquiries@hodgesfiggis.ie  woodbinebooks@gmail.com  maynoothbookshop@eircom.net  tommccaughren@hotmail.com   In RUN TO THE WILD WOOD the foxes of Glensinna come to the aid of the badgers whose home in the Fragrant Wood has been destroyed by man and his machines. But as they guide the badgers towards a new home, Ratwiddle warns, 'I see foxes running from the wolf. I see dragons spitting fire.....You can't kill dragons, you know.'  As always, Ratwiddle's predictions come to pass. Facing one danger after another as they journey towards the Valley of the Dragons, the foxes fear they will never complete their quest and make it back to their own home in Glensinna.
There has been great interest in my most recent fox book RUN FOR THE HILLS, showing that the fox continues to fascinate readers young and old. I would recommend Run for the Hills to 4th, 5th and 6th class readers. In this story some of the memorable characters from Run with the Wind, including Old Sage Brush, Vickey, Black Tip and Hop-along are confronted by foxes of various colours who have escaped from a fur farm. The newcomers know nothing of the wild, so they must be taken on a journey to escape their pursuers and learn how to survive in their new world of relative freedom. They have many adventures but there is much more to the story. Lessons can be learned from it in relation to our own daily lives. For example, how we should respect people of a different colour or faith who have come to live here, some of them having escaped persecution in their own countries. Publishers O' Brien Press have brought out a teachers' guide to show how various aspects of the book can be explored in the classroom. RRP €9.99 epub €5.99 http://www.obrien.ie/run-for-the-hills  Believe it or not it is now more than 35 years since the first book in the fox series, RUN WITH THE WIND was published. Editions in Penguin and Puffin followed as well as translations in Swedish, German, Japanese, Korean, Chinese and Latvian. The first three fox books are also on tape/CD for the blind in Britain and in Braille in Ireland.    LARGE PRINT EDITIONS of RUN WITH THE WIND, RUN TO EARTH and RUN SWIFT RUN FREE have been published by Dales Large Print Books in England for people with impaired vision and are available in libraries in Ireland.   I've written seventeen books altogether or I should say 18 when the picture book is published! They have won five awards for literature including The White Ravens from the International Youth Library in Munich, the Reading Association of Ireland Award, the Irish Book Medal, the Bisto/Children's Book Trust Books of the Decade Award and the Oscar Wilde Society Literary Recognition Award.   If you have difficulty in getting any of these books please contact me at tommccaughren@hotmail.com