Shearer

An astounding true story about the greatest shearer in the world … whose incredible shearing record remains unbeaten after more than a century!

Jack Howe had hands the size of tennis racquets, legs like tree trunks and wrists made of steel. Despite his size, he was light on his feet and did an excellent Irish Jig. But what Jack was really good at, was shearing sheep.

A rollicking Australian story, set in 1892, about the charismatic, Jack Howe – the greatest shearer in the world who set the world record for shearing sheep by hand. He also invented the “singlet”!

About the author

I had the perfect childhood surrounded. I was surrounded by animals, cats and dogs (kittens and puppies too, of course) canaries, doves, chickens and ducks (yep, chicks and ducklings), turtles, ferrets, rabbits, cattle and sheep (calves and lambs) and horses and foals. And I had a thousand acres to run around in – they were happy days and that’s why I write for children.

My Grandfather was a stockman and he bred, trained and raced his own racehorses. I spent hours in the saddle as a child, riding with my cousin. We’d hang out in the stables, watching all the comings and goings. There was trackwork, yearlings being broken in, young horses being educated, farriers shoeing racehorses. It was a busy place. We’d help where we could and afterwards, we’d sit around on upturned feed buckets and listen to stories.