Review #3 War Horse by Michael Morpurgo

You may have noticed that so far all three books being reviewed on this blog are books that were released years ago. But I know for a fact there are many many books out there older than myself that are amazing, I just haven't read them yet. I grew up reading Michael Morpurgo's books. I don't think you should go a lifetime without reading at least one. I also think you can enjoy his books no matter what age you are. They are timeless. Without further delay I hope to give you a quick summary of the book and I hope you enjoy.



The story is told through the eyes of Joey the horse. Bought by Albert's father in a drunken stupor he is brought back to the family farm where Albert quickly falls in love with the beautiful "red-bay" colt.

Joey soon has to learn to work as a regular farm horse, ploughing rock-filled fields, always fearing the wrath of Albert's bad tempered father. But Albert is determined to show his father that Joey is worth keeping, training the horse for hours to earn his father's approval.

All seems to be going well until the world comes crashing down with the announcement that England is going to war against the mighty Germans. With that news comes the realization that civilians and soldiers alike are in danger. The family consists of just Albert, his mother and his father, but they are heavily in debt. Soon the debt becomes too much and under the strain of poverty Albert's father has resort to doing something that breaks Albert's heart.

It was made in an internationally famous play, information here

The story gets fast paced then. Joey has to contend with the loss of his beloved owner Albert and navigate into a world completely alien to him; the battlefield.

It's hard to give a proper summary of the book without giving spoilers, but this book honestly touches me. It was adapted into a 2012 film by the great Stephen Spielberg and stars Jeremy Irvine as young Albert. To this day, reading the book causes tears to spring to my eyes in the closing pages.

Michael Morpurgo has an uncanny way with words, making a war that you will never experience seem so vivid in your mind and evoke such strong emotions in the reader. As I said before, people of ALL ages will love this. It is a beautiful story. Within the novel you travel to places you've never been, meet people you will grow to love and cherish as though they were real people and see the bond between human and animal. A story, told through the eyes of a horse named Joey.

The one negative I will say is that for younger readers, some words may be too difficult to understand  alone but I think that with the help of an adult there shouldn't be any bother. The book will keep you occupied for a good while and you also learn information that you wouldn't have necessarily come across in your day to day reading.