War Horse by Michael Morpurgo

[Tuly]

War Horse by Michael Morpurgo is an excellent children's book. I did not see the Spielberg movie or the well known Broadway play. I thoroughly enjoyed the book.

Gr 5-8-Since he was a young colt, Joey has been loved and cared for by Alber, a young English farm boy. At the beginning of Wold War I, Albert's father sells Joey to a captain in the cavalry. The boy is devastated and promises Joey that someday he will find him. Joey experiences army life and the disastrous consequences of a cavalry charge into machine guns. He is captured as a prisoner of war and becomes a hospital cart transport horse for the German army. Then he's used by the German soldiers to pull gun carts through the muddy trenches. Joey bolts after his friend Topthorn dies. He ends up in no-man's land between the trenches. By a coin toss, he becomes again the property of the English. Joey is taken to a veterinary hospital where he is reunited with Albert. As the soldiers from both sides of the conflict share their thoughts and feelings with Joey, listeners get unique and perceptive views of World War I.