The humorous and heartwarming story of Jack Jackman, a young boy who wants to be a stock drover, set in the small Waikato township of Waharoa in the late 1930s. Jack has a wonderful warm relationship with his parents and an old family friend, Andy the Drover, who each week drives a mob of cattle or sheep through the main street with the help of his dog, Old Drumble, and his horse, Nosy. All three become the boy's close friends over the long hot summer holidays, and each week Andy tells him and even more amazing story of how Old Drumble has saved the day yet again, with each adventure becoming more and more absurd. A Baron Munchausen of the sheep mob, Andy's yarns are dlightful, funny and quixotic - and in the hands of a master storyteller like Jack Lasenby, a passionate advocate of children's literacy, the result is pure magic.

Accolades

NZ Post Award Winner 2009 - Junior Fiction category

Author Biography

Jack Lasenby began his working life as a deer culler in the Ureweras in the 1950s, later becoming a teacher and editor of the school journals. A lecturer at Wellington Teacher's College from 1975, he has been writing since 1987 and has won every major award for children's literature many times. He specialises in writing about New Zealand heartland - small farms, towns and bush.