Dom Conlon, poet & author

Author: Dom

  • Tommy Tickletail

    Buy the beautifully illustrated book for your Kindle now. UK US — Tommy Tickletail is asleep in the kitchen. His body stretches twelve feet long. He snores and his teeth rattle like a train in a tunnel. Who dares creep past Tommy Tickletail? — Sophie and Sam dare. Sophie and Sam have hungry tummies and…

  • Know your place

    I wanted to share something I have learned about writing for children. It’s something which seems toweringly obvious but I didn’t notice it for quite some time. It’s the knowledge that place is paramount. I write or design on an iPad or iPhone. This frees me from a desk and helps me be more reactive…

  • When is a children’s story not a children’s story

    Stop me if you’ve heard this one before but I’m finding a lot of reviews of (mostly) films for children include the phrase “and there’s something for the adults here”. It’s a phrase I am finding increasingly troublesome. On the back of the incredible stories brought to us by Pixar through Toy Story, Finding Nemo…

  • Pocket Boy’s First Day

    Dan was the smallest in his family but he seemed to have the biggest coat. It used to belong to his older brother, Pete. Pete laughed at Dan in the coat. ‘You look silly,’ he said. Dan didn’t like that. What made it worse was the enormous pocket his Mum had sewn on it to…

  • Pocket Boy’s New Coat

    Dan was in a loud mood. He was playing a game he liked to call ‘BANG BANG BOO’. This mostly meant trying to scare his brother, Pete, who was trying to feed his pet mice. Pete was not in a loud mood. Pete was in a ‘let’s tell tales on Dan’ mood. ‘MUM, Dan is…

  • Macy’s Laces

    This is Macy Mayhew. Macy Mayhew can zip up her cardigan. It looks like a crocodile’s smile. Macy Mayhew can button her coat. It looks like five red ladybirds resting on soft green moss. Macy Mayhew can pin up her hair. It looks like a freshly made nest filled with sleeping baby birds. Macy Mayhew…

  • On the subject of legs and feet

    If sofas had legs they’d carry us far As far as a bus, or a train or a car. But sofas have just four small feet So you’ll have to walk, or take a seat. — Illustration courtesy of, and copyright, Darren Woodcock. Follow him on Twitter.

  • Tiny the Giant, ARE YOU A GIANT

    Tiny the Giant stood in a field and shook his fists at a Strange New Thing. ‘ARE YOU A GIANT?’ he roared. But the Strange New Thing said nothing at all. It just stood and it shook in the breeze. No the Strange New Thing did nothing at all, so Tiny the Giant ran off.…

  • Tiny the Giant, I AM A GIANT

    Read the story below and then buy it in a beautiful paperback edition. Illustrated throughout by Nicola Anderson. — Tiny the Giant I AM A GIANT by Dom Conlon Tiny the Giant stood and shook his fists at the world. “I AM A GIANT,” he roared. He sounded like a giant. He felt like a…

  • Feather Boy

    Start with a finger Held to the sky Feel the wind blow And let yourself fly Gather the clouds Inside of a fist Squeeze them all tight And turn them to mist Open your mouth And drink in the sun Swallow it whole And break to a run Over the hills And into the day…