The Creation of Jessica BunnyDuck

Jessica BunnyDuck is a character created by author Harry Bird. The story behind Jessica BunnyDuck is simple – it is ok to be different. Harry created the character during his time working as a chauffeur to the stars over a career that spanned many years with clients who included Cher, Jim Carrey, Kevin Costner, Barbra Streisand, Olivia Newton John, Lionel Richie, Mick Jagger and many more.

It was while working with Cher that he first became aware of children with craniofacial conditions. Cher had become involved with the Children’s Craniofacial Association and became their spokesperson. After meeting some of the children at one of Cher’s concerts, he was privileged to meet some of the children and their families again at an annual CCA retreat held in Dallas. He was overwhelmed with how vivacious the children were and how they dealt with their conditions and just got on with life. It was at that moment the seed was planted. Harry wanted to learn as much as he could and became determined to help in any way he could.

Harry set about creating a character who was different and yet beautiful, just like the children he had met. With the help of illustrator Roy Budgen, he came up with a loveable character that was a mixture of a bunny and a duck and using his granddaughter’s name as inspiration, Jessica BunnyDuck was created. With the help of his daughter Jacqui, he drew up the first few stories for the series and with the help of David Barr, the first series went to print. Cher also helped Harry with the process of creating the characters and put him in touch with Harvey Greenfield of Commonwealth Toys who developed a prototype BunnyDuck soft toy. With support from his previous clients, Harry wants to develop Jessica BunnyDuck into a global book series that promotes acceptance and awareness of craniofacial conditions, as well as raising funds for children with these conditions.