Homecoming Award-winning author by Michael Morpurgo (author) (UK edition)

Michael loves to visit Mrs Pettigrew in her railway carriage by the sea, where she lives with her donkey, dogs and hens. But when plans are made to build a nuclear power station on the marshes, Mrs Pettigrew’s idyllic life is threatened – along with the gulls, owls, kestrels and insects who also live there. Soon a local battle begins among the villagers, as they campaign for and against the power station. But as Michael is caught up in the struggle to save the marshes, he discovers that nothing can ever stay the same… A tender and lyrical story inspired by Michael Morpurgo’s boyhood, set in the coastal village where he grew up. Beautifully illustrated by Peter Bailey, it vividly brings to life a bygone time and its lost landscapes.

“From the first sentence of a Michael Morpurgo book, you know you are in the hands of a natural storyteller.” Guardian

“Bailey’s line drawings have a lovely old-fashioned quality appropriate to the remembrances inspired by Morpurgo’s boyhood.” School Library Journal

Product Details

Format

Paperback

ISBN

9781406341072

Publisher

Walker Books Ltd

Date published

February 7th, 2013

Accelerated Reader

AR book level: 5.3; Lower years; 1.0 points

Condition

New

UK edition

Author/Illustrator

Michael Morpurgo

Michael Morpurgo is a master storyteller, weaving captivating stories full of drama and intensity that are coming to be regarded as true classics. Exploring the most profound subjects with a light yet powerful touch, his books tell unforgettable stories in simple, direct words.

Michael Morpurgo discovered his talent for writing while working as a teacher. “We had to read the children a story every day and my lot were bored by the book I was reading. I decided I had to do something and told them the kind of story I used to tell my kids – it was like a soap opera, and they focused on it. I could see there was magic in it for them, and realised there was magic in it for me.”

Living in Devon, listening to Mozart, and working with children have provided most of the stimulae Michael needs to discover and write his stories. He spends about half his life mucking out sheds with the children, feeding sheep or milking cows; the other half he spends dreaming up and writing stories. “For me, the greater part of writing is daydreaming, dreaming the dream of my story until it hatches out – the writing down of it I always find hard. But I love finishing it, then holding the book in my hand and sharing my dream with my readers.”