Dolan joins Walker Books in four-book deal

Lollies Prize winning author-illustrator Elys Dolan is joining Walker Books, after signing a four-book deal for a new dinosaur series aimed at readers aged seven plus.

In the first book, Rex: Dinosaur in Disguise, the main character Rex is king of the dinosaurs, until an Ice Age comes along and he winds up frozen solid in a glacier. The synopsis explains: "When he wakes 65 million years later, human beings rule the roost – and if they get their hands on Rex, he'll wind up in a zoo or worse, a museum. Lucky for him, Rex isn't the only undercover creature in town: the one and only Bigfoot has been surviving among the humans undetected for years. Bigfoot and his friends show Rex how to get by in the humans' world, and soon there's only one thing left for him to do: get a job. But that's easier said than done when you’re a dinosaur in disguise."

The first book in the series will publish in June 2022. World rights were acquired by commissioning editor Becky Watson from Frances McKay at Frances McKay Illustration. 

Watson said: “Elys creates such irresistible worlds in her books – rich with the kind of details that children really enjoy – and has a knack for taking silly questions to their silliest and most satisfying extremes. In her new series, the question is: what do you do if you’re a dinosaur and you end up in entirely the wrong place at entirely the wrong time? Children will love finding out the answer!”

Dolan was shortlisted for the Waterstones Children's Book Prize for Weasels (Nosy Crow) and the Branford Boase for Knighthood for Beginners (OUP), won the inaugural STEAM Children's Book Prize for How the Borks Became (Otter-Barry Books) and the Lollies Prize for My Bunny's Chocolate Factory (OUP). She is also a lecturer on the MA in children’s book illustration at the Cambridge School of Art.

Commenting on the new series,  Dolan said: “I could not be more excited about Rex: Dinosaur in Disguise. Getting to imagine how a T-rex, a yeti, Nessy and even a dodo with a small business empire would navigate city life and, more importantly, the local nine-year-olds, has been an absolute joy. I can’t wait for people to get their hands on the book.”