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Mount Hood Oregon
J.N. Courtney

Children's Book Author

Jeanmarie Courtney Children's Book Author
Rat with Backpacks Dr. Donna Kean and Her Work at APOPO

Hard­cov­er book avail­able now
from your local bookstore!

RATS with Backpacks:

Dr. Don­na Kean and Her Work at APOPO

This bio­graph­i­cal sci­ence book shares the excit­ing train­ing of the Res­cueR­ATs of APOPO to find sur­vivors after a nat­ur­al dis­as­ter,  and the girl who grew up to be a sci­en­tist work­ing with them. More about the book.

APOPO is a Bel­gian, non-prof­it and NGO (non-gov­ern­men­tal orga­ni­za­tion) which research­es and devel­ops scent detec­tion tech­nolo­gies with African giant pouched rats and dogs, to help save lives and improve the environment. 

Please con­tact me if you would like me to vis­it your school, library, muse­um … using the CONTACT page on this website.

“A well-mea­sured biog­ra­phy sure to inspire bud­ding young sci­en­tists … Court­ney, who has pre­vi­ous­ly pub­lished mid­dle-grade nov­els — includ­ing Cloud­scape: Matilda’s Sto­ry (2019) — adapts well to non-fic­tion, pro­vid­ing facts in straight­for­ward prose but with a storyteller’s knack for build­ing char­ac­ter.” (Kirkus Reviews)

Imagine a mysterious and unusual world!

Cloud­scape, a children’s adven­ture fan­ta­sy series, is a sky-high adven­ture, 6000 feet above the earth. Fol­low Char­lie and Matil­da in their excit­ing sto­ries when they unex­pect­ed­ly arrive on Cloud­scape, a hid­den world. Char­lie and Matil­da encounter dan­ger, adven­ture and make friends from all over the world. With strength, courage and cre­ativ­i­ty, they’ll sur­vive and find their way back home.

Cloudscape Matilda's Story
Cloudscape Charlie's Story
Cloudscape: Kagiso's Story

Kirkus Reviews: “an intu­itive young hero­ine vis­its the world of Cloud­scape in this mid­dle-grade pre­quel … the authen­tic­i­ty of Matil­da’s feel­ings (duti­ful­ly record­ed in her jour­nal) is a win­ning qual­i­ty.” (review of Cloud­scape: Matil­da’s Sto­ry)

Kirkus Reviews: “Courtney’s light­heart­ed adven­ture offers rudi­men­ta­ry atmos­pher­ic sci­ence bol­stered by fan­tas­ti­cal sen­so­ry flour­ish­es … the book excels at tac­tile descrip­tions …” (review of Cloud­scape: Char­lie’s Sto­ry)

Out and About in the Community

J.N. Courtney sharing her books with 5th graders
J.N. Court­ney shar­ing her books with 5th graders at “Fes­ti­val-to-Go”
J.N. Courtney at the Rochester Children's Books Festival
J.N. Court­ney at the Rochester Chil­dren’s Book Festival