How The Creator Describes Him
Jonnie is a born adventurer with a great sense of inner belief. I have never met a more inspirational character for young people to look upon.
The Role Jonnie Plays
Jonnie is the hero. He travels into space finding new worlds and returns with a new experience and a lesson for life on earth.
What Jonnie Has To Say
It is all very exciting but scary at the same time. But I do enjoy it and always want to do it again.
About the Author
JOHN CHAPMAN – CREATOR, AUTHOR:
As a young boy, the wonder of the universe and a love of cycling had always been close to John’s heart.
Growing up in the 1960’s John had begun to form the first concepts of an idea through his strong imagination and creative role-playing. He dreamt of rocket-ships and space adventures, and was passionate about his bicycle and the escapism it gave him.
Therefore it was no surprise that in 1998 John had the idea for his imaginary character Jonnie Rocket.
With the creation of this character firmly embedded in John’s imagination he spent the next two years formulating the idea; compiling the draft of his first book ‘The Adventures of Jonnie Rocket’ in the year 2000. He wrote this initial book as a scripted storyboard, with the aim of animating the character of Jonnie Rocket as a DVD series.
John has since created a collection of stories, centred on ‘The Adventures of Jonnie Rocket’, twelve of which will be published in book form.
As part of John’s imaginary space adventure, it was with some irony, that in 1976 he found himself with a brief appearance as an X-Wing Pilot in Star Wars (A New Hope), living out the dream of a space adventurer through the most iconic sci-film of all time !
Bringing Jonnie Rocket to life after four decades must surely be John Chapman’s intention …………
What Others Have To Say
My kids (both girls, 7 and 2 respectively) love Jonnie Rocket. The eldest will help me read it to the youngest and the pictures are so vivid and vibrant that she has been known to ad-lib her own additional material into the story.
Jonnie gets to meet aliens, but there are no laser-blasters, no fights - it's just a cracking story of a little boy who has a wonderful imagination and dreams about "what is out there?" and has a relationship with his bicycle that I remember well - I used to ride for hours and hours - never straying too far from home and yet, in my own little universe at the same time.
A story of innocence that is rare in modern day children's literature, a simple story and all the better for it and really supported and enhanced by top notch comic styling (by top 2000AD/DC/Marvel artist "The Comic Stripper").
Bravo to the book's creator John Chapman.
- John Hoggard (Newbury)
This book is a sprint through a child's imagination. The drawings explode onto the pages and draw the reader into the excitement of a day Jonnie cannot wait to spend on his trusty bike. The transformation of bike to rocket, subsequent battle with space pirates and landing on a strange planet all happens at pace keeping the reader engrossed. The comic book style compliments the story perfectly and I can see many more nights reading to my young son about Jonnie and his adventures.
- Big CD
