Roly, the Anzac Donkey

Hello. My name is Roly. I'm a donkey. Let me tell you about the time during the First World War when I worked at a place called Gallipoli. I met a man there from New Zealand who was very special. He and I worked as a team to help rescue soldiers who had been hurt in battle.

Based on real people and events, this is the heartwarming story of Richard Alexander Henderson, a soldier in the New Zealand Medical Corps, and the donkey he discovers wandering and hungry on a Gallipoli road. Richard and Roly form a strong friendship and, working together, they courageously save the lives of many wounded soldiers.

But now the army has received top-secret orders to leave Gallipoli - and quickly. All the donkeys must be left behind. Richard is heartbroken. What will become of his dear friend Roly?

Glyn Harper and Jenny Cooper are the author and illustrator of the hugely successful picture books Le Quesnoy and Jim's Letters. Roly the Anzac Donkey is a moving retelling of Glyn Harper's 2004 story The Donkey Man, reinvigorated for a new generation of children with Jenny Cooper's beautiful illustrations, and commemorates the 100th anniversary of the Gallipoli invasion.

Glyn Harper is Professor of War Studies at Massey University in Palmerston North, New Zealand. He is Massey's Project Manager of the Centenary History of New Zealand and the First World War. A former teacher, he joined the Australian Army in 1988 and after eight years transferred to the New Zealand Army, where he rose to the rank of lieutenant colonel. Glyn was the army's official historian for the deployment to East Timor and is the author of numerous history books, including Kippenberger- An Inspired New Zealand Commander; In the Face of the Enemy- The complete history of the Victoria Cross and New Zealand; Dark Journey- Three Key Battles of the Western Front; Images of War- World War One- A Photographic Record of New Zealanders at War 1914-1918 and his most recent Letters from Gallipoli- New Zealand Soldiers Write Home. He has written a number of children's books, of which Le Quesnoy, Jim's Letters and Roly, the Anzac Donkey are the most recently published. In 2015 Glyn and illustrator Jenny Cooper won the Best Picture Book Award at the New Zealand Book Awards for Children and Young Adults, as well as a Storylines Notable Picture Book Award, for Jim's Letters, a moving story about a correspondence between two brothers during the First World War.

Jenny Cooper is an award-winning and prolific illustrator of more than 70 children's books and says she finds each title 'completely different and a new adventure'. In October 2015 Jenny was honoured as one of New Zealand's foremost illustrators with the presentation of The Arts Foundation Mallinson Rendel Illustrators Award. The award's patron Ann Mallinson declared her the 'perfect recipient', stating that 'whether a pencil sketch or a realistic, photographic based style, Jenny's illustrations jump out of the page with an invigorating spirit'. Jenny lives in Amberley, near Christchurch.

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