Jack, then 3, working on his stepping with child physiotherapist, Cathy Abery.

The Cow Tripped Over the Moon is a story about perseverance. I love seeing people practice a skill, especially a difficult skill, and do it so many times that eventually it becomes easy. I see it in my older two kids, Polly, 8, and Harry, 5, with things like cartwheels, kicking a footy or learning to read. But I dedicated The Cow Jumped Over the Moon to my now four year old, Jack.

Jack has cerebral palsy, a condition that causes muscle spasticity in all four of his limbs. He also has cortical vision impairment, which means he only sees a couple of metres.
Everything that Jack tries to do requires perseverance. He cannot walk by himself, or crawl, or sit for very long. Every day he practises these things, and gets tiny improvements to keep us going. When Jack’s in his walking frame, we chant each movement to help him:‘shift weight, step, stretch and push’. At the moment we are aiming to do one hundred steps per day – three sessions, 20-40 steps at a time.

Every day, Jack enthusiastically asks ‘who’s coming today?’ and we answer ‘Belinda’, or ‘Ingrid’, or ‘Cathy’, or ‘Ali’ or ‘Ro’, for his life is charted by a parade of therapists and volunteers, all working towards the same distant moons – crawling, walking, comfortable unassisted sitting, fine motor control.

If he wants to pick up a piece of pasta at dinner, Jack might make ten attempts with his better left hand. Then, finally, he gets his pasta. We are having small successes with spoons, particularly with motion towards mouth. Obtaining a visual sight on the food, and what we call ‘digging’ is still a fair way off.

Jack adores books. His favourite at the moment is The Book With No Pictures and he always interrupts the first page with the question ‘who wrote this?’ He’s a long term Mo Willems devotee, and we often read him a book while demanding that he hold a sitting position, or a four point position. He still manages to enjoy the book.

The Cow Tripped Over the Moon was his favourite for a stretch, and he memorised the whole thing. Here’s an audio rendition of us doing it together.

He is such a beautiful and brave boy. He tries so hard. Sometimes, he attempts to do deals. We say ten more steps until a (held in arms) bounce on the trampoline. He says, ‘maybe just go have bounce now.’

When he’s tired and grumpy he’ll say that he doesn’t want to do any more, but he’ll usually  have one more go. He likes to be ‘Roughy’ – Jarryd Roughead is his favourite Hawk – and he’ll shout ‘Gooooal’ as he inches an indoor soccer ball half a metre along.

Jack is only four, but he’s my inspiration. Jack is also the inspiration for The Cow Trips Over the Moon. I wanted to create a character who, like our Jack, never gives up.

‘Hey Diddle Diddle’ has long been my favourite nursery rhyme. The  image of a cow jumping over the moon is so romantic, and the two things combined to make this book. My first attempt at writing the story was much longer. I wrote a manuscript for a middle grade reader called ‘The Cowolympics’. It featured a young cow competing at the bovine sports carnival of the year. The main event is, of course, the Open Age Moon Jump.

moon clearance /Takes great perseverance.

My other favourite line is the dedication:

‘For my beautiful Jack. You will jump moons.’

Cow sold it’s first hardback print run and has been reprinted. It is available again online and in stores. RRP $24.95

The Cow Tripped Over the Moon

Scholastic, 2015

Hey diddle diddle
You all know the riddle
A cow jumps over the moon
It happened all right
On a crisp, cloudless night
On the second last Friday in June read more…

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