Jaz Hoy children’s book author is not a title Jaz ever planned for herself. It arrived the way the best things do — unexpectedly, through a story that refused to leave her alone, about a cow who was far too clever to be ignored.

This is that story.

Jaz Hoy Children’s Book Author — Where It All Started

In 2023, Jaz read a BBC news story about a Swiss Brown cow in the Austrian Alps who had demonstrated an extraordinary level of problem-solving behaviour. The cow had been observed using tools, navigating complex environments, and displaying a level of intelligence that had surprised the researchers studying her.

Jaz read the story twice. Then she thought about it for several days. Then she thought: this cow deserves a book.

Not a book that explained bovine intelligence. Not a non-fiction account of agricultural research. A story. A picture book. Something a child could hold in their hands and feel the particular pleasure of a character who notices what others overlook and finds a better way through.

Veronica was born.

Why Writing for Children Is the Most Honest Kind of Writing

Jaz has described writing for children as the most honest kind of writing she has ever done. Children have no patience for pretension. They cannot be flattered into enjoying something that does not work. They will put a book down without ceremony if it loses them — and they will ask to hear the same book again every night for two weeks if it does not.

Every word in a Veronica book has earned its place. Every sentence has been tested against the question: does this work for the child listening, and for the adult reading aloud? Both have to be answered yes before the sentence stays.

This discipline — the compression required by the picture book form — is something Jaz has spoken about as one of the most challenging and most rewarding aspects of the work. There is nowhere to hide in twenty-four pages. Everything that is there has to be exactly right.

Three Books In, More Coming

The Veronica the Clever Cow series currently has three books, with more already written and in production.

Book 1 — Veronica’s Very Important Scratch — introduced Veronica and established the world: an Alpine farm in Austria, a cast of distinct and lovable characters, and a cow who approaches every problem with patience, creativity, and a quiet refusal to give up.

Book 2 — Veronica and the Noisy Bell — deepened the series with a story about persistence and the kind of problem that seems impossible until suddenly it is not.

Book 3 — Veronica’s Busy Day — explored what happens when the desire to help becomes overwhelming, and why asking for help is its own kind of cleverness.

Each book stands alone. Each book is also part of something larger — a world that children return to, a character they root for, a farm they want to visit again.

What Readers Say About the Series

The feedback from readers has been consistent and clear. Parents tell us their children ask for the same book night after night. Teachers tell us the series works beautifully as a classroom read-aloud and as a starting point for discussions about problem-solving, kindness, and the idea that intelligence appears in unexpected places.

What Jaz hears most often is a version of: my child really sees themselves in Veronica. Not because Veronica is a child, but because Veronica is someone who tries, who gets things wrong sometimes, who keeps going anyway, and who always — always — finds a better way.

That is the book Jaz set out to write. That is the book that exists. And there are more coming.

Where to Start

If you are new to the series, the best place to start is Veronica’s Very Important Scratch — Book 1. You can also explore the full series and free library at veronicacow.com, where free membership gives you instant access to colouring pages, activity sheets, and cow facts cards for children aged 3–7.

Jaz Hoy is an Australian author. Veronica is an Austrian cow. Together they are making something that lasts.