What the Jackdaw Saw

Product Information

I grew up in a tall Victorian London house with my parents, grandmother, aunt, uncle, younger sister Mary and cat Geoffrey (who was really a prince in disguise. Mary and I would argue about which of us would marry him).

When I asked Helena how many copies of the book they were planning to print, she told me that they couldn’t actually afford to print any, and that the book would only be available online. That was when I had the idea of approaching my publisher, Macmillan, to see if they might publish the book themselves. I warned the Life & Deaf team that it probably wouldn’t be possible to use the children’s own illustrations, since the book would need to be commercially viable and in practice books illustrated by children – specially by lots of different children – just don’t sell. Although this was a shame, Helena, Jane and Katie felt that the exercise had been partly to show the children what was involved in developing a germ of a story into a fully-fledged book. This book is for younger children than some of Donaldson's other books and when I was offered this to review, I jumped at the chance as I know my class love her work, this however was a little young for them. I did read it to them regardless and while some enjoyed it, for most it was not what they expected. Barham intended his verse to produce laughter, rather than be taken seriously. He was said to have written it to ridicule the strict "church dignity" of the era. He was well-placed to comment, being a cleric himself! One of my television songs, A SQUASH AND A SQUEEZE, was made into a book in 1993, with illustrations by the wonderful Axel Scheffler. It was great to hold the book in my hand without it vanishing in the air the way the songs did. This prompted me to unearth some plays I’d written for a school reading group, and since then I’ve had 20 plays published. Most children love acting and it’s a tremendous way to improve their reading. Every now and then Jane convened everyone and used a flip chart to do a progress report. I was so grateful for her support – and for that of all the other adults – as I could never have managed to structure the day and hold the children’s attention single-handed. At one of these sessions, we all voted on which animals should be making the “danger” sign, and what colour they should all be.I studied Drama and French at Bristol University, where I met Malcolm, a guitar-playing medic to whom I’m now married.

It was the first book I have received for review which includes sign language and I think this is nice, there are many children who are unable to discover a love for reading when they are younger as they can't hear the story being told. This allows them to join in with the story but also they can feel the expert and be able to educate those around them with the signs and explain why this is happening. I also continued to write “grown-up” songs and perform them in folk clubs and on the radio, and have recently released two CDs of these songs. Stephen reluctantly untied the tall one, gave his comrade a light cuff on the nape, and sat down on the box. A familiar garden visitor from early spring, numbers peak in June, as they are looking for food for their young at this time. The species' social behaviour is endearing, as they mate for life, with the young birds pairing during their first autumn. They don't breed until they are more than one year old. Forgive us, Father, we won’t, by God, we won’t do it no more,” the other joined in, raising his head.Murderer, brigand,” came a muffled reply from behind the collar of the fur coat. “What is it you plan to do?”

For me the best part of the day was the end when the children acted out the story they had all helped to create. As Children’s Laureate I had been encouraging children to perform stories and poems, but I had rarely seen any do so with such panache as these ones. Before Malcolm and I had our three sons we used to go busking together and I would write special songs for each country; the best one was in Italian about pasta. I, God’s unworthy servant, am carrying sacred gifts for a dying one. And you too will one day be dying, to whose court then will you go for your judgement?” On this day Christ was born, and what are you doing, murderers, brigands!” uttered a soft, elderly voice.I hope my co-authors didn’t get too tired of waiting. As is often the case with picture books, it took two years between the delivery of the manuscript and publication of the book, and some of the “children” were now in their teens or had even left school. But it was wonderful to see them all again at the launch of the book, along with their enthusiastic families, where the highlight was the performance, which was even more stunning than before. Life & Deaf had arranged for some amazing feathered masks to be specially made, and the children mimed, signed and acted the story in such a professional way that at the end almost everyone was in tears. I’ve been to many a book launch, but never one as special as that. Christ commanded us to love each other, and what are you doing? You are spilling the blood of Christians, you are ruining your own souls. The slain will enter the kingdom of heaven, and you?”