LoveReading4Kids Says
LoveReading4Kids Says
If the best stories are true ones, the best animal stories definitely are, and that’s the case here. Jacko was a real bird, a jackdaw found and rescued as a chick by an animal-mad youngster who would grow up to be the head keeper at London Zoo. Mick Carman never forgot Jacko, and thanks to Jeanne Willis neither will readers of this book.
Jacko was clearly a real character who made an impression on everyone who met him, including the regulars at the Station Hotel and commuters at Teddington station. He was part of Mick’s life for just a short time in the early 1950s, and Willis successfully brings to life not only their relationship, but the spirit of those post-war years too, the hardships, the optimism, the challenges faced by the men who had returned. It is done lightly, but perfectly, and she resists any trace of sentimentality in her descriptions of Jacko’s life too, the story being all the better for that. This animal story soars.
Andrea Reece
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About
Jacko Synopsis
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...
The True Story Behind Jacko - Jean Willis
"In October 1964, the real Mick Carman in this true story flew the nest. He left school and inspired by a certain jackdaw and a programme called Zoo Time on TV, he wrote to London Zoo asking for a job. He began work at the zoo in the Small Mammal Department, where he cared for civet cats, coypus, lemurs and Tasmanian devils to name a few. In 1965, he was transferred to the Ape and Monkey House, where he looked after the zoo’s most famous resident, Guy the gorilla, for twenty-three years. Mick became Head Keeper in 1985, a position he held until he retired in 2008.
"Mick is my neighbour and came to the rescue when I ran out of fruit flies to feed my pet praying mantis nymphs. He had some spare after feeding his tree frogs and as we chatted, he mentioned that he’d rescued a baby jackdaw years ago and wondered if it would make a good story. Mick had kept Jacko’s press cuttings in a box and suddenly this wasn’t just a story about a jackdaw earning his wings – there were two flight paths to navigate. Shortly after, I went with Mick to Teddington to visit the Railway Hotel where the story began. We went up to the function room where Jacko learned to fly, we stood at the bar where he held court and drank in the yard where his cage used to be. Afterwards, we peered into the station master’s garden, stood on the bridge and watched the trains Jacko used to escort. In the afternoon, we wandered through the chestnut trees in Bushy Park, where Mick found him as a fledgling. The rest is history. There are a few places where I had to use guesswork, no one can recall everything that happened over half a century ago, but the things that matter are true. I’m indebted to Mick for sharing his story with me."
About This Edition
ISBN: |
9781839133220 |
Publication date: |
4th May 2023 |
Author: |
Jeanne Willis |
Publisher: |
Andersen Press Ltd |
Format: |
Paperback |
Pagination: |
192 pages |
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Author
About Jeanne Willis
Jeanne Willis is an award-winning children's author and scriptwriter. She wrote her first book when she was five - a slim volume about cats written in pencil and stitched together with a painfully blunt needle so that it looked like a 'real' book. After that, there was no turning back. Having been fired from her Saturday job - selling cowboy boots on the Kings Road - for chewing gum, and after a brief career as a reptile vet's assistant, she worked as a copywriter and had her first picture book published at the age of 21 (which she wrote whilst pretending to be busy creating adverts for cognac).
She has since written over 300 books and has won several awards, which are arranged in the attic where she works, along with her collection of caterpillars, pink-toed tarantula skins and live locusts. Jeanne has a keen interest in Natural History and has lost count of the number of species featured in her books, including everything from slugs to sloths. She is currently into corvids - especially Nosy Crows.
Jeanne has won the Silver Medal Smarties Prize for Tadpole's Promise, the Nasen Special Needs Award for Susan Laughs, the Sheffield Children's Book Award for Who’s in The Loo and the Red House Children's Book Award for 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.
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