Helsinki, Finland, July 31, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- A rigged mayoral election. A television channel launched to broadcast invented stories about a rival. A tower built for no reason beyond being taller than anyone else's. A waste-to-fertilizer scheme sold to a town as progress. These are the plots of a picture book series for children.
The six Francis the Fox picture books by Tuula Pere, illustrated by Andrea Alemanno. Francis Fox was named Best Villain in the Outstanding Creator Awards' Spring 2026 contest.
Its central character has now been named Best Villain in the Outstanding Creator Awards' Spring 2026 contest, the only winner of that award. Francis Fox is a small-town politician who rigs elections, spreads lies about his opponents, and builds monuments to himself, across six picture books by Dr. Tuula Pere, illustrated by Andrea Alemanno.
In The Fox's City he manipulates a town's leaders for his own gain. In The Fox and the Election Fraud he runs for mayor with neither honesty nor service in mind. The Fox's Palace and The Fox's Tower follow him into status projects built on deceit and vanity. In The Fox's New Channel he chases fame through nonstop broadcasts and fabricated stories, turning a community against its respected mayor.
"The weakest people need the most capable defenders, and the most challenging topics must be written with the most sensitive hand," Pere says. "This is my challenge and joy as an author."
The newest title, The Fox and the Garbage War, drew the rest of the contest's honors. It was placed first in Best Children's Book of Spring 2026 and first in Animal Literature, and its characters Linda Lupo and William the Wolf shared the award for Best Supporting Character. Pere also received an Outstanding Creator Awards Ultimate Championship Trophy for The Fox and the Garbage War together with a second title, The Hermit's Hut, which took first place in Writing and Publishing and in Motivational and Inspirational Books.
In The Garbage War, Francis follows an election defeat by chasing fame through a flashy waste-to-fertilizer venture — a story about false progress and the value of asking who benefits.
Reviewers have picked up the satire. Literary Titan called The Fox and the Election Fraud "an engaging and witty portrayal of political manipulation and greed," and described The Fox's New Channel as unfolding "like a satirical reflection of modern media culture." Reviewing The Garbage War, the same publication wrote that after reading it, "I could easily imagine talking with a child about honesty, leadership, and why people should question things that do not feel right." All six titles hold five-star reviews from both Literary Titan and Readers' Favorite.
The books are set in an animal town and name no country, party, or public figure. What recurs is a type rather than a portrait: the leader who puts himself before the people he governs, and the neighbors who eventually notice.
"I want to emphasize that honest action always wins in the end," Pere says. "Although this does not instantly seem true in real life, justice will eventually prevail. The profit it gives can be more than money and power."
Pere came to children's writing from a career spent close to the machinery she now satirizes. She took her law degree in 1984 and worked for two decades as a corporate lawyer and then as Senior Vice President of Corporate Communications at two of Finland's largest companies, the state beverage group Alko and the forest-industry group Metsa-Serla. She published her first storybook in 2010, and in 2015 completed a Ph.D. in Law at the University of Helsinki with a dissertation on the limits of freedom of speech in the Finnish mass media during the social and cultural changes of the 1960s and 1970s.
"Those were the years for preparing to become an author," she says of the decades before her first book. "Without that exercise and accumulated experience, I wouldn't write the same way I do now."
More than eighty children's titles have followed since 2010, published through WickWick, the Helsinki publishing house Pere co-founded with her husband, CEO Pekka Pere. Her War and Peace picture books address conflict and displacement; the Pearl series, about a girl with a disability, was selected for the International Board on Books for Young People's 2021 list of Outstanding Books for Young People with Disabilities. Pere is the first author in Outstanding Creator Awards history to be named Author of the Year twice.
Her flagship title The Healer Cat is published in 101 languages, and 115 bilingual editions of her books are now in print, each one translated by a person rather than a machine.
Notes to Editors
- The Francis the Fox series, six titles, all illustrated by Andrea Alemanno and published by WickWick: The Fox's City; The Fox and the Election Fraud; The Fox's Palace; The Fox's Tower; The Fox's New Channel; The Fox and the Garbage War.
- Themes across the series: ambition and manipulation, corrupt power, disinformation and its effect on community trust, status built on deceit, false environmental progress, and the need for critical thinking.
- Outstanding Creator Awards, Spring 2026 contest, results for Tuula Pere: Ultimate Championship Trophy, awarded to Pere for The Hermit's Hut and The Fox and the Garbage War. Best Villain, sole winner: Francis Fox, from The Fox and the Garbage War. Best Supporting Character, one of three winning entries: Linda Lupo and William the Wolf, from The Fox and the Garbage War. First place in Best Children's Book of Spring 2026: The Fox and the Garbage War and The Hermit's Hut, among twelve titles placed first. First place in Animal Literature: The Fox and the Garbage War. First place in Writing and Publishing, and in Motivational and Inspirational Books: The Hermit's Hut. Best Character, honorable mentions: Francis Fox from The Fox and the Garbage War, and Francis from The Hermit's Hut.
- Reviews: all six Francis the Fox titles hold five-star reviews from Literary Titan and from Readers' Favorite, and Literary Titan Gold Award / Winner status. Forty published reviews across the series. Individual review links supplied on request.
- Author: Dr. Tuula Pere, born 1958. Law degree 1984; two decades as a corporate lawyer and executive, including Senior Vice President of Corporate Communications at Alko Group and at Metsa-Serla, then Europe's largest fine paper manufacturer. Exceptionally senior management positions for a woman in that era.
- Ph.D. in Law, University of Helsinki, 2015. Dissertation: the limits of freedom of speech in the Finnish mass media during the social and cultural changes of the 1960s and 1970s. Completed while she was already publishing children's books.
- First children's book published 2010; more than eighty titles to date. Pere is the first two-time Author of the Year in Outstanding Creator Awards history.
- The Pearl series was selected for IBBY's 2021 Outstanding Books for Young People with Disabilities list.
- Reach: The Healer Cat is published in 101 languages; 115 bilingual editions of Pere's books are in print. All editions are human-translated.
- Story angles: political literacy for young readers; a free-speech scholar writing picture books about power; disinformation explained to children; a lifelong storyteller who published her first book after a full career in law and corporate communications.
- Cover images, interior spreads, and author photographs available on request.
Dr. Tuula Pere, author of the Francis the Fox series.
About Tuula Pere Author
Dr. Tuula Pere is a Helsinki-based children's author. Since 2010 she has published more than eighty titles for young readers, on subjects ranging from war and displacement to power and disinformation, and she is the first two-time Author of the Year in Outstanding Creator Awards history. Before writing for children she practiced law and served as Senior Vice President of Corporate Communications at two of Finland's largest companies, completing a Ph.D. in Law at the University of Helsinki in 2015. Her books are published by WickWick, the Helsinki publishing house she co-founded. More at https://tuulapere.com.
Press Inquiries
Tuula Pere
tuula [at] pere.fi
+358407675350
https://tuulapere.com
Kuusiniementie 21 D
00340 Helsinki
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