Book description
Discover the beautiful stories of Michael Morpurgo, author of Warhorse
and the nation's favourite storyteller
A moving story of a brother, a sister and a swallow, and how all are in
some way victims of the horrors of landmines.
Olly's brother Matt wants to go and work with children who have been
made orphans, through war, in Africa. He wants to be a clown and make
them laugh. His mother and sister want him to stay in England and go to university.
Hero, a swallow, has a journey to make too. He must fly to Africa for
the winter to join all the other swallows. His journey is difficult and
fraught with danger.
Three separate stories are woven into one powerful and moving novel
whose central theme not only exposes the horrors of war and of
landmines, but also the endurance of the human spirit. Michael divides
his time between his writing and running Farms for City Children, a
charity which each year takes up to 3,000 children to a working farm for
a week. Michael and his wife Clare were awarded MBEs this year for their
work with the charity. Before the first farm opened 22 years ago,
Morpurgo was a teacher and his knowledge of children's experiences, plus
his experience of Farms enrich his writing enormously.
Michael Morpurgo has won the Whitbread Children's Book Award, and the
Smarties Book Prize.
