Meet the Author and Creator – Deborah Tayloe
Freelance writer and blogger Deborah Tayloe is the creator and author of the Rocco Books series. She wrote about the family dog in the first book in the series for her stepdaughter, Jessica, over ten years ago.
That first book dealt with dealing with a bully at school. It entertained and showed her child that bullies do not determine a person’s feelings of self-worth. (She plans to publish this story soon!)
But that first draft sat in a drawer for over ten years. Several times, both Tayloe’s husband and stepdaughter urged her to turn the book into a series.
She never forgot her story concepts. While she was busy building a busy freelance writing career, she often remembered her passion for writing children’s books. Finally, she channeled her inner-Rocco, gathered the courage to make her stories open to the public, and braved the world of self-publishing to bring these stories to life.
Mrs. Tayloe holds a Bachelor’s of Science in Education (B.S.Ed.) in Secondary Education/English from the Edinboro University of Pennsylvania. She resides in the rural area of Bertie County, North Carolina, with her family.
Meet the Illustrator – Uros Pajic
Having admired the work of the Serbian artist, Mrs. Tayloe knew that Uros Pajic was the right artist to bring her visions of whimsical dogs to life in her book series.
Pajic jumped on board the project after reading the manuscript. An ardent reader, he enjoyed the flow of the story and the lesson it teaches to young readers. He wanted to help contribute to helping young children develop both a love of reading and coping skills when facing new life situations.
Because he loves both the written word and illustrating (especially dogs!), he joined the team and created the vivid images in the Rocco Books series.
Uros Pajic is a classic artist holding a Master’s of Fine Arts degree in drawing and a Bachelor’s of Fine Arts in printmaking. He has extensive experience in illustration, digital images, and character development.
Meet Rocco
Rocco is a small dog breed, a toy fox terrier. Life was not always easy for Rocco, but you’d never guess that from his sweet disposition and enormous heart.
Because Rocco was born with a disability, a jaw deformity that causes a severe underbite and misaligned teeth, he was not “acceptable” to breed standard. Because of this, he was rejected by a puppy mill.
The puppy did not need to worry about this rejection for long! When he was about four months old, he was adopted by the Tayloe family and lived a happy life ever since.
