Ever since I was a child
A Forces child
I have loved war stories
I grew up reading Carrie’s War
The Machine Gunners
When Hitler Stole Pink Rabbit
I Am David and
The Silver Sword.
As a younger adult and as a teacher
I discovered Michael Morpurgo and fell in love with his storytelling
Especially his books centred around the world wars
Private Peaceful and War Horse being two of my absolute favourites
In December I also love his version of The Christmas Truce
The Best Christmas In The World
Esther, William and I also very much enjoyed
I cannot read any of these books without crying
Michael is a compelling storyteller
No one writes the war like Michael
No one creates characters as emotionally charged as Michael
No one can write the chaos, courage, fear, hope and heroism of the First World War
In quite the same way as Michael
Pairing Michael Morpurgo with illustrator Tom Clohosy Cole was a genius idea
And the results are breathtaking beautiful
Incredibly emotional and culminate in an utterly magical, sensitively designed
Unforgettable picture book
Filled with hope and love
The perfect remembrance story for 2020
This is not a picture book for young children
This is a brilliantly moving illustrated story for older children and adults
This is a powerful story
It has grabbed our hearts on the first read
William and I were both crying from the third double page spread
And I was reading through tears for the rest of the book
This is War Horse
A powerful heartwrenching story of friendship between a boy and his horse
Joey and Albert were like brothers, though human and horse. Albert is gutted when his father sells his horse to the army. Albert, though underage, enlists with the army to fight in France and vows to find Joey and bring him home.
We follow Albert through his training and his travels to France. We witness life in the trenches and snatch glimpses of the horror of life on the frontlines.
The illustrations are incredible. There is much to observe and discuss with layers of stories to unravel together to learn more about the First World War.
Joey is a war horse. Firstly a cavalry horse until his Captain is shot from his back. The war scenes are well done with shadows and colour making the images come alive. You can feel the fear and the speed of the horses.
Joey becomes an ambulance horse and makes a friend, Topthorn.
He never forgets Albert
Joey and Topthorn become gun horses
Topthorn becomes ill and is killed by a shell
This is an incredibly sad part of the story
Joey refuses to leave his fallen friend
He stays beside him as shells fall around
Until he is chased from the forest by tanks
Our hearts were pounding in the rhythm of galloping hooves
As Joey ran for his life until he could run no more and collapsed in No Man’s Land
Spotted by one young British soldier and one young German soldier
With white flags waving they meet in the middle
As Albert approaches the horse he already knows in his heart that it is his Joey
The tears were falling from William and I now in great abundance
As Albert called his Joey and his horse raised his weary head
The two friends
The two brothers
Were together again after all they had been through
But the German soldier
Having reached the horse first
Thought that he should claim the horse
Joey does, of course, go home with Albert
But what happened out there on No Man’s Land between two young boys from different sides?
I urge you to buy the book
Read this wonderful story and find out
It might just restore your faith in humanity at a time when we all need exactly that
This is a wonderful book for remembrance day
For all days
A book to remind us all of the animal and human heroes from the First World War
A reminder that we must never ever forget
We will not forget
