Song made famous by Val Doonican inspires local author’s new children’s book

‘Delaney’s Donkey’s is the fifth book by Colin Deeny and, as the title suggests, tells the story of ‘Delaney,’ his stubborn donkey, their friend, Riley and a scheme to make some money.

Funny, heartwarming and enthralling in equal measure, the book is already proving hugely popular with children near and far.

Speaking to the ‘Journal’, Colin - who is also the Managing Director of Inish Pharmacy, told how the story is based on a song he loved as a young boy.

“The song is about 100 years old and played in the ‘playhouses’.

“I don’t know how popular it was then, but in the 1960s there was an Irish singer called Val Doonigan, who had a really popular TV programme in the UK. The show was on every Saturday night and, as a boy growing up in Glasgow, I loved this show and all the silly songs.”

He added: “The song about the donkey stuck in my head and I’ve always remembered it.”

Colin decided to bring the song to a new generation of children, ‘but in a different way’.

“The song itself has one story and I tried to involve another story in the process as well. We have these two fellas and one of them is a bit lazy.”

The illustrations, as always, were completed by the talented Mark Beckett, who Colin described as a ‘someone we are lucky to have on our doorstep’. It is self-published and available at Inish Pharmacy, instore and online at www.inishpharmacy.com/

Colin is delighted with the reaction to the book so far.

“The real reaction is when you hear about the young ones enjoying it. There’s no point having a book out there for them when they don’t like it.

“The real challenge when writing children’s books is that you have to get adults to engage with it, to go and buy it, and you have to get the kids to enjoy it. I love it when I hear of the young ones enjoying it.”

‘Delaney’s Donkey’ is Colin’s fifth children’s book and follows on from his trilogy on Nicholas, the young boy who grew up to become Santa and ‘The City of Ys: A Traditional Breton Tale’.

Colin told how, after his last story related to one in Brittany, he wanted to focus on an Irish tale for his new book.

“The song might have been long forgotten about, in this day and age, so I wanted young people to hear about it. I also wanted to do something that was Irish, for the local market.” ‘Delaney’s Donkey’ is aimed at children in the five to seven age range. It costs e4.50 .euro and is available now.