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I wrote Zac and Jac during those long lockdown days of 2020 but it had been brewing within me for years. It’s the story of nine-year-old Jac’s growing awareness of racism and as the title would suggest, the story centres around his friendship with Zac.
I’ve never stopped being shocked and perplexed by racism, especially in the young. No one is born a racist after all, so at what point does someone actually turn into one? Could it be due to prejudices that are casually passed down from generation to generation and if so, surely education is the key to breaking the cycle. As a teacher myself, I am constantly on the lookout for stories that I can use as vehicles to tackle difficult issues. I have always found fiction to be such a powerful way into all sorts of unsavoury discussion topics.
In 2020, world events gave me the nudge that I needed – the killing of George Floyd and the subsequent Black Lives Matter protests. I decided to use the theme of football. We have a massive racism problem within the sport in this country and with my teacher hat on, I could think of quite a few … let’s just call them ‘reluctant readers’, who would occasionally be tempted to glance at a book if it was about football.
As it happens, there was a lot of discussion around this time about the introduction of Black history into the school curriculum in Wales (where I’m from). It had always seemed to me that only the negative aspects of Black history such as slavery and colonialism were taught in school. Opportunities to learn about the achievements and contributions of Black and Brown people were limited. My children’s grandparents were part of the Windrush generation yet during their time at school, this wasn’t touched upon. My kids are grown-up now but when they went through school, there was less of an awareness about the need for full representation in books so they rarely got to read about characters who looked like they did. The time seemed right for a change.
I remember finishing the first draft that November when I was at home, recovering from Covid. I then set about the scary task of collecting feedback. It’s a sensitive subject. I was a white woman writing about racism. This was a responsibility, and I couldn’t risk getting it wrong. I was fortunate enough to enlist some amazing beta readers. One of the first people to read the initial draft was Kate Mills at Show Racism the Red Card. Kate kindly took the time to provide invaluable feedback. A key moment in Zac and Jac is a school visit from some footballers to address the issue of racism (I have been privileged to have attended such sessions myself over the years). Incorporating the ‘toolkit’ into this part of the story was Kate’s suggestion and I feel that this added a useful new dimension. One of the aims of the book is to help children to recognise racism in its many forms and to provide them with the confidence and the tools to challenge it.
My publisher, Graffeg, found the very talented Monique Steele and they worked alongside her on the text. Her strong illustrations really complement the story. It has been so exciting to see everything coming together.
Although I’ve been writing for a long time, writing Zac and Jac has brought a lot of firsts. It’s the first time that I’ve written from a boy’s perspective and the first time that I’ve written for this age group. Everything that I’ve written prior to Zac and Jac has been aimed at secondary school aged readers. For maximum impact, I needed the issue of racism to be seen through completely innocent eyes – enter Jac. By the time that children reach secondary school age, they will have some knowledge about racism and their views are more deeply embedded. They’re not too deeply embedded to change of course. It’s never too late to change, as seen in the story.
The book doesn’t pretend that racism is a simple problem to fix but I would like to think that it leaves the reader with a sense of hope for a better future and the message that we can all play a part in that.
If you would like to know more about Cathy’s book please check details below and if you are looking for other KS2 books that feature diverse ethnicities why not try our specific category here.
