Ming the Panda
The real-life story of Ming, the first-ever Giant Panda to be brought from China to London Zoo
in 1938.
Ming became a worldwide celebrity and wartime symbol of courage and hope, loved by
millions of people, including Princess Elizabeth, the future Queen, and an inspiration
to children everywhere.
A former distinguished librarian at Preston Libraries, Jake Hope is now a writer, reviewer and consultant for the Carnegie Medals. Jake has curated exhibitions on children’s literature and written articles and chapters on children’s reading. He has spoken at book fairs and festivals around the globe and is passionate about libraries and reading. He has judged or chaired numerous awards, including the Costa Children's Fiction Prize, and has been a jury member on the Bologna Ragazzi award. He is editor of and a contributor to Our Rights! Stories and Poems About Children's Rights (2023). He lives in Preston, Lancashire.
Yu Rong has degrees in Chinese Painting and Contemporary Art from Nanjing Normal University, and in Communication and Design from the Royal College of Art, London. Deeply versed in traditional Chinese art, she has won numerous international awards including the BIB Golden Apple and the Chen Bochui International Children's Literature Award. Yu Rong’s books for Otter-Barry Books include Shu Lin’s Grandpa, with Matt Goodfellow, which was shortlisted for the Yoto Kate Greenaway Medal 2022. She has also illustrated The Boy Who Loves to Lick the Wind, written by Fiona Carswell, short-listed for the Teach Awards (2024) and nominated for the Yoto Carnegie Medal (2025). Yu Rong lives in Cambridgeshire.