Jack’s family is based on Rottnest Island during WWII while his father helps build an airfield. Jack and his best friend Banjo have the run of the island and a remarkable knack for getting into trouble — but as Jack says ’I’m not that bad I just get caught a lot!’ Dafty a simple but loveable young boy dotes on Banjo and Jack. When Dafty seeks revenge against the local schoolmaster for a punishment inflicted on Banjo life suddenly becomes more serious. This poignant multi-layered text offers young readers a valuable insight into life in Australia during the war.
Multi-award-winning writer Norman Jorgensen was born in Broome and lived a happy, Huckleberry Finn-like childhood. He has worked in the book trade for much of his life, and in his spare time, he loves to read, travel and take photographs. He now lives in a hundred-year-old house near the city with his wife, Jan Nicholls, a childrens book devotee. Norman began writing when in primary school and had a story read on the ABC Radio Argonauts Club, but it took many years before his first picture book, In Flanders Fields, beautifully illustrated by Brian Harrison-Lever, was published. Norman has since published three novels Jacks Island, The Smugglers Curse and his latest, The Wreckers Revenge and two picture books with local illustrator James Foley The Last Viking and The Last Viking Returns.
