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About Jo Cooper
Children’s Author • Historian • Isle of Wight Storyteller
Jo Cooper is a lifelong Islander and former swimming coach who turned her love of history into a series of captivating wartime stories for children. Her books — A Red Sky, Sparkles in the Navy Blue Sky, and There Will Be Blue Skies — bring the Second World War to life through the eyes of young characters living on the Isle of Wight.
Although she disliked history at school, Jo fell in love with the past after watching the TV programme All Our Yesterdays as a child in the 1960s. It showed old footage of the First World War and made history feel real — not distant or dusty. That spark stayed with her.
Much of Jo’s inspiration comes from her own family stories. Her mother shared vivid memories of growing up during WWI and working during WWII, while her father was a fireman in Portsmouth during the Blitz. These real-life threads, woven with historical detail and imagination, now form the backbone of Jo’s fiction.
Jo has spent most of her life working with children — running playgroups, guiding Girl Guides, and teaching swimming (including synchronized swimming). That deep understanding of how children think and feel helps her create believable characters like Reggie and Lindy, who navigate the complexities of wartime with cheek, courage and curiosity.
Her writing is rooted in research — often drawn from local archives, personal diaries, wartime maps, and interviews with Islanders who remember the era. But for Jo, facts only matter if they help tell a good story. As she puts it:
“History is exciting — it’s what happened to real people in real situations.”
Wartime Stories That Bring History to Life for KS2 Classrooms
Gripping stories from the Isle of Wight’s Home Front — perfect for readers aged 9–11.
Jo writes early in the morning at her desk on the Isle of Wight, often imagining the scenes before she types them.
She hopes her books make children laugh, cry, think deeply — and above all, want to learn more about history.
Jo's dream?
To one day see one of her books turned into a British film in the tradition of The Railway Children.
But for now, she’s happiest when a young reader finishes a book and asks, “Is there another one?”
