Book Info
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Hardback240 pages
Author's Website
www.michaelmorpurgo.com/Publisher
HarperCollins Children's Books an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers.www.harpercollinschildrensb...
Suitable for Ages
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Publication date
27th May 2010ISBN
9780007339570Children's Author 'Like-for-Like' recommendations
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An Elephant in the Garden
Michael Morpurgo
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Lovereading4kids Price: £9.74
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The Lovereading comment:
Once again the former Children’s Laureate, Michael Morpurgo, weaves an intensely moving story about an extraordinary animal caught up in a very human war. It’s World War Two in Germany, the animals in Dresden are to be killed because of the bombing but Marlene who works there decides to save a young elephant and keep it in her garden but when her house is bombed she and her children and Marlene the elephant must escape the bombings and the Russians. It’s utterly compelling and like Michael’s other animal stories such as Adolphus Tips, Kaspar the Cat, The Butterfly Lion and Where the Whales Came, it is not to be missed. Also available on CD-Audio.
Synopsis
An Elephant in the Garden by Michael MorpurgoA thrilling and moving new novel about an extraordinary animal caught up in a very human war, for anyone who loved The Amazing Story of Adolphus Tips or The Butterfly Lion! It's 1944. Elizabeth's father is fighting with the German army on the eastern front. Her mother works at Dresden zoo, where her favourite animal is a young elephant named Marlene. When the zoo director tells her the dangerous animals must be shot to prevent them running amok if the town is bombed, Elizabeth's mother moves Marlene into the back garden to save her! and then the bombs start to fall. Their home destroyed, Elizabeth and her family must flee the bombed-out city and through the wintery landscape, all the while avoiding the Russian troops who are drawing ever closer. It would be hard enough, without an elephant in tow!
About The Author
Michael Morpurgo was our Guest Editor in June 2010. Click here to see the books that inspired his writing.
Michael Morpurgo has written over one hundred books and won many awards. In 1976 Michael and his wife Clare started the charity Farms For City Children, which aims to relieve the poverty of experience of young children from inner city and urban areas. In 1999 they were awarded the MBE for their work in creating these farms and in 2006 Michael received an OBE.
His novel War Horse has been adapted into a hugely successful and critically acclaimed West End play and a film directed by Steven Spielberg. Michael is a tireless champion for children’s books and was formerly the Children’s Laureate. Loved by children, teachers and parents alike, Michael Morpurgo has won the Whitbread Award, the Smarties Award, the Circle of Gold Award, the Children’s Book Award and has been short-listed for the Carnegie Medal four times.
Anthony Horowitz on Michael Morpurgo:
'Michael Morpurgo is the most solid, classical of children's authors. He sits outside the series-driven blockbusters so beloved of publishers nowadays: he hasn't created a Harry Potter or an Alex Rider – and I admire him for resisting that. We are opposite sides of the same coin and, although his work has never influenced mine, I admire the eloquent, considered voice of his best books. He has an unerring moral compass – his schoolteacher past has never quite left him – and books such as War Horse and The Butterfly Lion have a strong social concience and an honesty that makes them universal.' (The Guardian)
Why not CLICK HERE to take a peek at Michael’s 10 Rules for Writing.
or Click here to read a Q&A with the author from top children's publisher Egmont.
Michael is the inaugural President of the Historical Writers Association starting from Autumn 2011. The Historical Writers' Association (www.thehwa.co.uk) will celebrate its first anniversary in October. It was founded to bring social and professional support to writers of historical fiction and non-fiction, publishers, agents and booksellers, all bound both by their common interest in historical books and by the sense of community that comes from a shared obsession.
Since its creation, the Historical Writers' Association has launched the first Festival of Historical Writing in association with English Heritage as part of their Festival of History at Kelmarsh in Northamptonshire this July. In September, a partnership was announced with Goldsboro Books to launch a new literary prize, the HWA/Goldsboro Crown for Debut Historical Fiction, the first of which will be presented at Goldsboro's History in the Court Festival next year on 27th September 2012.
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