Kevin Rudd’s Animal Adventure

Our prime minister has turned children’s author – with his own dog the star!

Move over, Madonna, there’s a new celebrity children’s author in town – and this one is a renowned pet lover. Prime Minister Kevin Rudd is better known for penning 10,000-word epics on the implications of the global financial crisis for capitalism. And as anyone who has read those pieces will tell you, it’s hardly riveting stuff.

However, Mr Rudd has now joined forces with actor and children’s TV personality Rhys Muldoon (one of the Play School presenters) to write Jasper and Abby and the Great Australia Day Kerfuffle.

Jasper and Abby are the names of Mr Rudd’s own cat and dog, and the book, which the PM’s staff have described as being ‘more secretive than the budget’, is a children’s adventure story centred on the animals’ escapades in the grounds of Kirribilli House one day.

Kevin Rudd told Sydney’s Sunday Telegraph: ‘I’ve worked on the text with Rhys and we’ve both interviewed the cat and the dog. They have been very co-operative in their responses but, for most of the time, have gone off the record.’ He then added, jokingly, ‘It’s not been the most demanding text I have worked on.’

The book is set to be released on Australia Day (26 January) and although details of the plot have yet to be revealed, it’s understood to revolve around Jasper the cat’s ‘high-maintenance’ character.

A spokeswoman for Mr Rudd said the book was delightful and ‘even cuter than one might imagine’. She said, ‘Jasper in the flesh is very hoity-toity, in a good cat way, and Abby’s gorgeous. They’re old family pets, much beloved.’

The idea for the book reportedly came from co-author Rhys Muldoon, with proceeds from Jasper and Abby and the Great Australia Day Kerfuffle will go to the Royal Children’s Hospital in Melbourne.

Australian prime ministers and pets have a long association, but this is the first time a sitting PM has gone into print on behalf of his animals. Dog Diaries will bring you a review of Jasper and Abby and the Great Australia Day Kerfuffle in the next few weeks.

Image by: Kevin Rudd PM