Book Review: War Horse

War Horse

by Michael Morpurgo

Kindle Edition, 176 pages
Published September 1st 2010 by Scholastic Press (first published October 1982)
ASIN B00457WZEI
series War Horse #1

About the author:
Michael Morpurgo is the author of many books for children, five of which have been made into films. He also writes his own screenplays and libretti for opera. Born in St Albans, Hertfordshire, in 1943, he was evacuated to Cumberland during the last years of the war, then returned to London, moving later to Essex. After a brief and unsuccessful spell in the army, he took up teaching and started to write. He left teaching after ten years in order to set up 'Farms for City Children' with his wife. They have three farms in Devon, Wales and Gloucestershire, open to inner city school children who come to stay and work with the animals. In 1999 this work was publicly recognised when he and his wife were awarded an MBE for services to youth. He is also a father and grandfather, so children have always played a large part in his life. Every year he and his family spend time in the Scilly Isles, the setting for three of his books.

image and information courtesy of goodreads

My thoughts:
A couple of weeks ago Mr. J, some of our family and I had made plans to go see the new film "War Horse".  A couple of days before our planned viewing I came across a very nice review of the book by Stacy Nyikos .  She recommended reading the book prior to viewing the movie.  I didn't know there was a book so I was a little late to read it before viewing the movie--but I did read it afterward.  I found it didn't really make much difference, the film followed the book fairly closely. 

I was taken by surprise when I began the book to discover that the horse, Joey is actually the narrator of the story.  The story begins with his birth and follows him through the events of his life and the people he came in contact with.  The most epic portion of his life comes when he finds himself sold to the military and he becomes part of the English Cavalry during WWI.  The story is written for young readers and although it deals with the horrors of war it has a way of presenting them so as not to be overwhelming.

My favorite part of reading this book is that it reminded me of when I was a young girl. I grew up on a farm and we always had three or more horses and a shetland pony.  The neighbors also had horses so as a result I spent a good portion of my childhood riding.  When I wasn't riding my sister and I had some Breyer horses we played with.  I also went through a phase where I read a bunch of stories about horses that I've never forgotten.

Here is a list of some of the stories I remember reading as a girl:

Black Beauty
Born to Trot
Misty of Chincoteague
My Friend Flicka
Thunderhead
National Velvet
El Blanco
High Courage
Big Red
Blaze and Thunderbolt
A Filly for Joan
The Outlaw
The Black Stallion
The Black Stallion's Sulky Colt
Justin Morgan had a Horse
King of the Wind
Brighty of the Grand Canyon

Did you read any of these stories, or do you remember some other horse stories?
And . . .
if you enjoy these types of stories you would certainly enjoy reading War Horse.