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Jack - photo by Chris Wild   Jack (and his cousins Grabbit and Skoot) have been reviewed in a number of magazines. Here's what they had to say.....
       
   

A Head Teacher's Thoughts on Jack

The “Jack the Station Cat” books are a charming series that will delight young and old. Jack lives at Tails’ End station in Wales with his cousin Tom, Aunty Buzz (the superintendent of station cats) and other animal friends including other cats from real existing railways all over the country.

Alan Cliff has considered carefully what else children might want from a book these days, and has included a personal letter to the reader at the end of each book to tell them about the railways mentioned in the story, as well as puzzles and interesting facts about railways. For a railway-mad or cat-mad family, these stories could spark the idea behind an entire family holiday, following the trail of the cats and their station homes.

The books are the right length for a bedtime story, and are the kind children will be able to enjoy again and again once they can read independently. The beautiful illustrations give a real sense of the cats’ identities as well as an idea of how the station might work.

Another generous feature of the series is that each story donates half the author royalties to a different children’s charity including the Children’s Trust, Ty Gobaith Chidren’s Hospice and Save the Family (a homeless family charity).

I would recommend these books as great stocking fillers, and not just for the kids!

Kate Owbridge
Head Teacher
St Mark’s CE Primary School, Bromley.


Published in Railnews Book Review of the “Jack the Station Cat” Series

 

And other Snippets....

"This Delightful Series", Railway Modeller, Dec 2009.

" The Books ...are charmingly Illustrated.", Heritage Railway Magazine, Dec 2009

"The prize-winning English is as impeccable as ever..." , Llanuwchllyn Express (Journal of the Bala Lake Railway Society), Autumn 2009.

"Jack the Station Cat and the Snail Trail... a nice slimy title for the latest in the children's book series Jack the Station Cat.", Bluebell News (Journal of the Bluebell Railway)".