Latest news

Latest news

8 December 2011

Look out for those humorous or smart moments with your animals over the Christmas/New Year break. We would love to hear from you. The next fortnightly story will be posted in mid February 2012.

A big 'Thank You' to our supporters for helping us to promote the love of animals. A very 'Happy Christmas and New Year to you and your families. 

Orders can be made and will be processed as per normal over the holiday break.

30 October 2011

Please put in your Christmas orders for our books early to avoid postal delays especially if you are ordering outside of New Zealand. If you require it gift wrapped, please let us know. This is a free service.

4 August 2011

We apologize to any subscribers of the Fortnightly Story who did not receive it this fortnight. We are cleaning out spam e-mails in our system and might have accidentally removed yours. Please e-mail caroline@smarterthanjack.com and put in the subject line 'Reinstate' and we will make sure that you are included in the next fortnightly story.

18 July 2011

17 March 2011

6 January 2011

1. Our very best wishes for 2011.

2. The Smarter than Jack office will be closed from 27 January to 28 February so that        the team can have a well deserved rest.

28th.October 2010

A special offer for readers of the fortnightly story.

Buy a copy of 'Animals are Smarter than Jack' by going tohttp://smarterthanjack.com/catalog/1                                                    and you will get a copy of 'Smartest Pets' free. Just put on your order through Worldpay, 1 copy Animals are Smarter than Jack and in the Order comments box, put Special Offer from SMARTERthanJACK 2.

6 October 2010

1. A special offer for readers of the fortnightly story.

Buy a copy of 'Animals are Smarter than Jack' and you will get a copy of 'Smarter than Jill' free. Just put on your order through Worldpay, 1 copy Animals are Smarter than Jack and in the Order comments box, put Special Offer from SMARTERthanJACK 1.

2 Sept. 2010

Exciting news! Supporters from Africa can now order our books online by going to 

http://smarterthanjack.com/catalog/1

28 July 2010

Due to the infiltration of spam in the comments for stories submitted, we have removed some stories temporarily for 'cleaning out' the inappropriate comments. We apologise for any offence or inconvenience that some of our story submission authors have faced.This is a situation that we will be monitoring closely.

18 February 2010

 We hope you have enjoyed reading the second fortnightly story for 2010 as much as we did. For more wonderful edited true stories, go to 'Our books'.

5 February 2010

1. A very happy 2010 to all of our readers from the SMARTER than JACK team. We hope you all had a good break. For those of you with interesting Christmas stories with your pets, don't forget to send it to us at www.smarterthanjack.com, e-mail to caroline@smarterthanjack.com or send it to SMARTER than JACK, P O Box 57202, Mana, Porirua 5247, New Zealand

2. We hope you have enjoyed reading the first story for 2010 and we look forward to reading more of your stories.

7 December 2009

The prices for our books and postage are in NZ dollars. We have added Africa on our book purchase list. Please e-mail caroline@smarterthanjack.com if your country is not on our list. We can consider adding it in our list.

4 December 2009

The Smarter than Jack office will be closed from 5.00 pm 9 Dec. 2009 till 9.00 am 4 Jan. 2010. Accordingly, please ensure that all Christmas orders are submitted before 9 December. All orders received after this date will be held and processed after 4 January 2010. We would like to take this opportunity to say a big 'Thank You' to all our supporters for the stories you have written and the books that you have bought from us this year. Thank you so much for helping to connect with animal lovers all over the world. We have really enjoyed working with you. Last but not least, a very Happy Christmas and New Year! 

24 November 2009

Christmas Stories from Smarter than Jack

Three of the Christmas Stories from SMARTER than JACK were selected by the Pet Magazine of NZ/Australia and published in the Dec - Feb 2009/10 issue. Congratulations to those authors whose stories were selected.

From time to time SMARTER  than JACK  gets requests for stories to be published in magazines or newsletters and Christmas stories are popular. So, look out for any comical or smart animal situations this coming Christmas and submit it to SMARTER than JACK. Don't forget that photos can be uploaded in the new system. If we do get enough of these stories, we might be able to publish a special SMARTER than JACK Christmas stories book for 2010!

We have 5 copies of the Pet Magazine with SMARTER than JACK's Christmas stories to give away for any orders that are 4 or more books. This offer is only valid till stocks last.

6 November 2009

1.   Smarter than Jack (New Zealand)

The first book in our series is no longer  available from the website nor through our distributors. Sadly, the last 2 copies were ordered 2 days ago by a very lucky person in Australia.

2.    SMARTER than JACK will be offering a FREE GIFT-WRAPPING  service for all Christmas orders, and the parcels will be sent directly to the requested recIpients. The recipients will also receive free SMARTER than JACK bookmarks. Simply enter a note in the comment box of your order that it is a Christmas gift. All orders which are meant to be Christmas gifts must be placed before 5.00 pm New Zealand time, 9th. December to ensure delivery before Christmas.

23 October 2009

Our apologies to those of you who received your story with computer errors. We are still trying to sort teething problems with the new system. If you have difficulties reading your story, please go to 'Read stories', followed by 'Past fortnightly story' and you will see this fortnight's story there.

9 October 2009

1.   SMARTER than JACK will be offering a FREE GIFT WRAPPING  service for all Christmas orders and send them directly to the intended recIpients. The recipients will also receive free SMARTER than JACK book marks. Please put in the comment box of your order that it is a Christmas gift. 

2.   The voting system is now in place. Click on the star to vote. It will allow only 1 vote.

28 September 2009

The SMARTER  than JACK team are really excited about the new features that the upgraded website offers. Please check the list  below:

1.   Photos of animals can be uploaded along with submitted stories.

2.   There will no longer be any negative votes. (The voting system is still being 

      fine tuned. Our apologies for that).

3.   Inappropriate comments can be removed.

4.   You can find your story easily by clicking on 'author'. It will then list the stories

      in alphabatical order of  the author's first name.

5.   There is a photo competition with SMARTER than JACK  books and your pets.

       The winner will have their pet's photo uploaded on the home page in place of

       SMARTER  than JACK'S  cat, Pearl.

       Scroll to the bottom of the page and click on 'Read More'

September - 2009

The Smarter than Jack website is being redeveloped.  We apologise for any inconvenience that this may cause. If there are any problems that you encounter on the website, please contact caroline@smarterthanjack.com

From the new owner - January 2008

I feel really privileged to have the opportunity to take over Smarter than Jack.

My wife Caroline and I have always had a love for animals. Over many years we have kept a pet sheep who lived to the age of 12, a dog, two cats, two rabbits, numerous doves, an axolotl, a canary, a weta, several gold fish, and a duckling. In short, we have had many more pets than children! Our two children have grown up with animals and still love them, even though they are now growing into adulthood.

Through Smarter than Jack, Jenny has come up with a great concept for fostering the love of animals, and has done so much to promote animal care through her innovative work with animal charities. Caroline will be helping me to ensure that all Jenny's hard work for animals continues, and we are very much looking forward to this challenge.

A major focus for us this year will be the gathering of material for new books, and looking for new ways of helping animals through the sale of those books. So if you have any ideas for improvements or new things we could try, please let us know - we will value any suggestions you may offer, especially regarding how we can build an even stronger online community of animal lovers. 

We will also consider making some changes to this website, in order to keep it looking fresh and up to date. But animal stories will always be a key feature of the site, so please keep sending your stories to us. We have certainly enjoyed reading your stories in the short time since the handover, and from the votes and comments we know that many others have too.
 
Thank you so much for supporting Smarter than Jack and everything we stand for -  together we can make a big difference to the welfare of animals around the world.

Very best wishes,

Chris Mundy

Smarter than Jack has a new owner - November 22, 2007

Avocado Press Limited, creator of Smarter than Jack, has been sold, effective January 3, 2008.

The reason for selling the business is to enable me to focus on our new family and to pursue other interests. It will be sad to no longer be involved in Smarter than Jack, but it is the right thing to do.

It was very important to me to find the right person to take over Avocado Press. I wanted someone with passion for Smarter than Jack and with the right skills and infrastructure to make it succeed.

The new owner will be Chris Mundy. Chris is based in, Wellington, New Zealand.

I reviewed several applicants and chose Chris because he had solid publishing experience, a strong empathy with animals and for those who care for them, and because he wanted to make a serious commitment to Smarter than Jack. I'm sure he will do a brilliant job.

If you have any questions or concerns please contact me at jenny@smarterthanjack.com.

I have very much enjoyed reading your stories and creating wonderful books over the last few years. Thank you!

Jenny Douché