Out of the Ashes by Michael Morpurgo

This is one of the most powerfully emotional children's  books I have read.It is simply told but really delivers a powerful blow. I had heard of foot and mouth disease but until I read this novel had not really understood the implications it causes for whole communities and the heart break it brings to each farming family watching their life's work destroyed before their eyes.  This is Becky Morley's story of how she and her family coped with losing all that was precious to them over a few short months, and of her sudden awareness that even her very strong dependable dad cannot cope with such a soul destroying experience. It is told through a diary she received as a thirteenth birthday present from her dad. It tracks the family's days before the outbreak, during the outbreak, until it reaches it heart wrenching conclusion. But, it is also a book about hope and the support that communities give in such times of hardship.  I have always appreciated the illustrative powers of Michel Foreman and his illustrations really do justice to this amazing story. I would also recommend his novels War Horse and Butterfly Lion.

The Rainbow Bear by Michael Morpugo

I am snow bear. I am sea bear. I am white bear. I wander far and wide, king in my wild white wilderness.

Thus begins The Rainbow Bear written from the point of view of the polar bear, with its crisp short sentence delivery, alliteration and poetic text. With its frisking foxes, slow seals, wallowing walruses and flashing fish, and the grinding and groaning ice, the story of the polar bear and the harshness or its existence gently unfolds. He follows rainbows and is desperate to become a rainbow bear, and one day his wish is fulfilled. Then come the hunters, looking for the unique things in nature and his life takes a turn for the worse...I collect polar bear picture books and this one is a welcome addition to my collection. Michael Foreman's delicate and evocative paintings do not disappoint. Be careful what you wish for!

The Butterfly Lion by Michael Morpurgo

I found this to be a very moving book and read it in one sitting. It begins with a young boy running away from his boarding school in Wiltshire. He meets an old woman who tells him th story of Bertie and the butterfly lion. Bertie is an only child who liven on a farm in South Africa near a place called Timbavati. There is a fence around the house and he is not allowed to leave this compound because of the threats the wild animals pose. One day Bertie leaves the compound to rescue a white lion cub whose mother has been shot. He is allowed to keep the cub and he and the white lion become inseparable, but eventually he has to go to boarding school and his father sells the cub to a French circus owner. Bertie promise to find the lion one day. The story follows his life through his school days where he meets the love of his life, Millie, and his service in the Great War. The pleasure of the book is enhanced by the many pencil illustrations drawn by Christian Birmingham. To hear the author, Michael Morpurgo read from his novel, click on the following link:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YVQd2li8CgQ

Why the Whales Came by Michael Morpurgo

This story revolves around the curse which was put on the people of Samson, one of the Isles of Scilly, and how two young children and the supposedly mad Birdman of Bryher manage to redeem the curse some thirty years later. It is not a dark and sinister story about evil curses, rather it is a gentle story about friendship and trust, and it all comes about in the very beginning because of a pair of aggressive swans. The breeding pair drive Gracie and her close friend Daniel away from their favourite local pond where they sail their model ships. In their search for some safe flat water the children find themselves playing on the forbidden Rushy Beach. It is set in 1914. There has been a movie adapted from book entitled When the Whales Came, but I haven't been able to get my hands on it; well not yet. The cover of this novel is a still from the movie.