Morpurgo books

[alwaysonadiet1]

Which ones have your children enjoyed the most? Butterfly Lion has been a hit but some of them seem a bit upsetting? Thanks.

My kids loathe them, too sad. School librarian keeps dishing them out! Not terribly helpful I know.

My ds loathed them too. DH and I used to joke about who would die in this one when yet another appeared from school

I’m not a fan - when it’s not depressing it’s just plain dull. I can’t tell you which would be most enjoyable but ‘Dancing Bear’ was pretty depressing - at least it was short!

I’m glad someone else said it. There’s writing that reflects life and there’s just waiting for the young man to die so the young woman can live the rest of her life alone. Or vice versa.

Growing up in Cornwall, we read a lot of Morpurgo books. They are all quite dark and depressing, but I think I liked The Wreck of the Zanzibar. Another one scarred me for life, I think the Giant’s Necklace, about a girl getting trapped in a cave/mine shaft

It looks like the Giant’s Necklace was published in 2016 but I’ve definitely read it at least 25 years ago, so perhaps it was published in a compendium. That’s going to bug me now

Reading them was like watching those old episodes of 'Casualty' where you were just waiting to see which poor sod was going to die this time.

I love Morpurgo.

What age?

Asked DS now 16 if any Morpugo’s he would recommend, he said Kensuke’s Kingdom was the only one (boy falls out of parents boat in Pacific Ocean, stranded on an island, old man teaches him how to survive). He did say Terry Pratchett (Carpet People and Dragons of Crumbling Castle) was a lot more fun.

Glad it’s not just us who find MM gloomy!

Morpurgo is a swear word in our house. It's not for everyone. DS is not a prolific reader, but other authors engage him far more. All a bit depressing, and as my DS once put it 'his description goes on and on, I wish he'd just get on with the story.' I tried to read warhorse amidst all the acclaim, but as a previous poster said, it's dull.

Oh my god I've found my people! These keep being pushed on DS1 who is 8, mainly by librarians and English teachers and he just doesn't get on with them at all. I started reading "the White Horse of Zennor" to the DCs when we were on holiday in Cornwall last year and none of us wanted to continue after the first couple of stories, they were just too dark and sad. That has the giant's necklace in it (I guess it was re-published as part of a new set of 5 stories)?

I looked at a couple more at the library - Warhorse, Private Peaceful (cover said age 9+), Waiting for Anya... for each one I flicked to the end to see what happened and every single one had an unspeakably sad ending.

I also bought The White Horse of Zennor last year to share with my granddaughter, however, after I read some of it I realised that it was too dark for a 7 year old.

Looking back I think my own offspring were about 12 when they read Morpurgo.

God, they are miserable. I bought a boxed set for DS on the recommendation of his teacher and could only give him about a quarter of them that weren't horrendously depressing.

We love Michael Morpurgo books in this house but I don’t think I have read one which hasn’t made me cry! We have met him a few times as lives reasonably local to us so does quite a few charitable events. DS got very excited when he was younger when he realised he was sitting next to us in a cafe one day.

@Xiaoxiong thank you! It’s in The White Horse of Zennor. It seems to have been published as a standalone picture book in 2016, but I knew I had read it somewhere. Really stayed with me, that one!