Michael Morpurgo
Former Children’s Laureate and award-winning author Michael Morpurgo is widely recognised as a master storyteller and has won numerous awards for his work, including the Smarties Book Prize, the Writer’s Guild Award and the Blue Peter Book Award for Private Peaceful. Michael and his wife Claire founded the charity Farms for City Children and live in Devon.
Books by Michael Morpurgo
“It’s really a story not just about an autistic child, but an autistic man as well. Set in the cam argue region of France.” Read more...
Michael Morpurgo on His Novels
Michael Morpurgo, Children's Author
” It is a family story. It’s present and precious in my life. It also is the reason I think, at least in part, why I’ve become what I’ve become.” Read more...
Michael Morpurgo on His Novels
Michael Morpurgo, Children's Author
” I was trying to, I suppose, put myself in the shoes of that child in that village meeting those soldiers, and then the conflict of being part of the secret organization that was taking these kids across into Spain.” Read more...
Michael Morpurgo on His Novels
Michael Morpurgo, Children's Author
“It really is to say to children you don’t start a story with just a blank sheet. You begin with what you know, with what you care about.” Read more...
Michael Morpurgo on His Novels
Michael Morpurgo, Children's Author
“More than any other small boy I’ve ever put in a book that boy is me.” Read more...
Michael Morpurgo on His Novels
Michael Morpurgo, Children's Author
“Morpurgo manages to maintain the magic, monsters and military might of the original, while creating a story that modern day children can connect with.” Read more...
The Best Viking History Books for Kids
Janina Ramirez, Children's Author
“It’s a real tear jerker, especially when you’re listening to the music at the same time as reading the book. It pulls you into music through emotionally powerful writing.” Read more...
War Horse
by Michael Morpurgo
My book War Horse is a case in point. It’s been made into this extraordinary play with the horses being played by giant puppets. If you go to the theatre you can see 1,000 people coming out of the performance and a large proportion of them have been crying their eyes out for the last two hours. They identify with the great sadness of the First World War. It’s a release for them to cry in the same way it’s a great release for us to read a book and feel both grief and joy.
The Kites are Flying
by Michael Morpurgo
It’s a book about a wall. And it’s very interesting because people have been talking a lot about the Berlin Wall coming down. The people who pulled it down were children in the sense that they had been children and saw this wall around them as they were growing up. And when they got older they decided to pull it down.
My story is about a reporter who goes to Palestine to find out about the wall that the Israelis have put up to protect themselves from the Palestinians. The Israelis naturally see it as some form of protection while the Palestinians resent it. There are two children in the book living on either side of the wall. One starts sending messages across the wall with a kite and eventually his faith is rewarded because the Israeli children get together and send all the kites back with their messages of goodwill. The book is all about the hope and the promise that in the end the children will put it right – which will happen.
It’s seems inconceivable at the moment, but that is what happened with East and West Germany. So it’s a book about peace and a book about hope. We are in the middle of a conflict which is touching the world in such a disastrous way in that people take sides, and the whole point of this book is to show that if you stop taking sides you can work it out.
Interviews with Michael Morpurgo
Michael Morpurgo on His Novels
Michael Morpurgo takes us on a journey behind the scenes of five of his own books. He talks about his convictions as a writer and how he weaves fiction out of truths—experiences, accidents, history and memories—and why getting lost is often the best way to make a remarkable discovery.
Michael Morpurgo recommends his Favourite Children’s Books
The best-selling children’s author, Michael Morpurgo, says books for children need to do more than amuse their readers. He picks his own favourite books written for young people.
Interviews where books by Michael Morpurgo were recommended
The best books on Happiness for Children, recommended by Vanessa King
What is happiness? Why does happiness matter? Vanessa King, lead psychologist at the charity/non-profit Action for Happiness, discusses how developing ours and our children’s happiness skills can have benefits for our own lives and for society as a whole.
Best Music Books for Kids, recommended by Meurig and Rachel Bowen
Have you heard that music is good for children but don’t know where to begin? Musicians Meurig and Rachel Bowen recommend the best music books for children.
The Best Viking History Books for Kids, selected by Janina Ramirez
Celebrated Anglo-Saxonist and art historian Janina Ramirez has written her first book for children: a Viking mystery with a fearless young heroine, Alva – both detective and shield-maiden. Here, Dr Ramirez recommends five superb history books to help young readers get an in-depth understanding of this exciting and often misunderstood era.
Michael Morpurgo on His Novels
Michael Morpurgo takes us on a journey behind the scenes of five of his own books. He talks about his convictions as a writer and how he weaves fiction out of truths—experiences, accidents, history and memories—and why getting lost is often the best way to make a remarkable discovery.
