Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse: The Animated Story
A journey in search of home.
From the Sunday Times and New York Times bestselling author and artist, Charlie Mackesy, the companion book to the BAFTA and Academy Award® winning animated short film, available on BBC iPlayer.
#1 SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER
This beautiful book celebrates the work of over 100 animators across two years of production that brought Charlie's distinctive illustrations to life with full colour, hand-drawn traditional animation. The original globally adored story of the Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse is captured here in stills from the animated short film and handwritten words by Charlie Mackesy.
"I made a film with some friends about a boy, a mole, a fox and a horse - their journey together and the boy's search for home. I hope this book gives you courage and makes you feel loved." Love Charlie x
British artist, illustrator and author Charlie Mackesy began his career as a cartoonist for The Spectator, before becoming a book illustrator for Oxford University Press. His award-winning work has been exhibited widely and featured in books, private collections, galleries, school classrooms, hospital wards, prisons, and public spaces around the world.
Charlie worked with Richard Curtis on the set of Love Actually to create a set of drawings to be auctioned for Comic Relief, and with Nelson Mandela on a lithograph project, The Unity Series. His bronzes can be found in public spaces in London, including Highgate Cemetery and the Brompton Road.
His internationally bestselling book, The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse, was published in October 2019 and holds the record for the most consecutive weeks in the Sunday Times Non-Fiction Chart across all formats as well as being the longest running Sunday Times Non-Fiction Number One of all time. A number one New York Times best-seller, it is one of eight books since 2013 that has remained on the number one New York Times Bestseller and on the New York Times Advice, Misc. Best Seller list.
Charlie's beloved book is the first ever book to be awarded both the Waterstones Book of the Year and Barnes and Noble Book of the Year (2019) and has been translated into over 50 different languages.
In 2023, the short animated film adaption of The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse won the BAFTA Award for Best British Film, the Academy Award for Best Animated Short film and five Annie Awards including Best Special Production. The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse: The Animated Story was published in November 2023 to accompany the animated short film.
Away from art, Charlie co-runs Mama Buci, a honey social enterprise in Zambia that helps families of low and no income become beekeepers. He lives between Brixton and Suffolk with his dog Barney.