Jacko
Age 9+
Historical Fiction Animal Stories True Stories
Based on the true story of the childhood of London Zoo's head keeper, Mick Carman. When Mick rescues an injured baby jackdaw, so begins a special bond between a nature-loving boy and his pet bird.
When Mick rescues an injured baby jackdaw in the park, little does he know that the bird is about to change his childhood for ever. Jacko soon recovers, and Mick teaches him how to fly. It’s not long before Jacko becomes a beloved member of the community, amusing the punters in the family pub and guiding the trains into the station. As Jacko’s adventures gain greater fame, Mick has to face whether he can ever bear to say goodbye to his beloved pet jackdaw...
Creators
Jeanne Willis is an award-winning children's author and scriptwriter. She had her first picture book published by Andersen at the age of 21, and has won the Silver Medal Smarties Prize (Tadpole's Promise), the Nasen Special Needs Award (Susan Laughs), the Sheffield Children's Book Award (Who’s in The Loo) and the Red House Children's Book Award (Bottoms Up). Jeanne has also worked on scripts for TV, including Polly Pocket and The Slow Norris, and a pilot TV series for Dr Xargle.
Kate McKendrick Grove grew up in Essex and in Renfrewshire, near Glasgow. She studied graphic design and imaging science at Cambridge School of Art. She loves books, and happily, after a couple of assistant design jobs, she moved to London and started work in children’s publishing. Kate is now Art Director for Fiction at Andersen Press. In 2011 she completed an MA in Illustration at the University of the Arts, Camberwell, London.
