Morpurgo's first job was as a primary school teacher, in Kent. In his late twenties, while he was teaching, he discovered his talent for storytelling, of which he later said "I could see there was magic in it for them, and realized there was magic in it for me." [4]
His writing career was inspired by Ted Hughes' Poetry in the Making, Paul Gallico's The Snow Goose and Hemingway's The Old Man and the Sea.[5] Poets Se?n Rafferty and Ted Hughes were influential in his career, with Hughes becoming a friend, mentor and neighbour.
In 2009, he donated the short story "Look At Me, I Need a Smile" to Oxfam's Ox-Tales project, four collections of UK stories written by 38 authors. Morpurgo's story was published in the "Water" collection.[6]
Morpurgo's work is noted for its "magical storytelling",[5] for recurring themes such as the triumph of an outsider or survival, for characters' relationships with nature, and for vivid settings such as the Cornish coast or World War I.
[edit]Farms for City Children
Main article: Farms for City Children
Michael married Clare, eldest daughter of Sir Allen Lane, the founder of Penguin Books,[7] In 1976, Michael and Clare established the charity Farms for City Children,[8] with the primary aim of providing children from inner city areas with experience of the countryside.[9] The programme involves the children spending a week at a countryside farm, during which they take part in purposeful farmyard work.[10]
About 85,000 children have taken part in the scheme since it was set up, and the charity now has three farms in Devon, Gloucestershire and Wales. In 1999 the couple were created Members of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in recognition of these services to youth. Morpurgo was later elevated to Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) on 17 June 2006 for his services to literature.
Normal RRP: ?47.99
This collection contains 8 brilliant novels from Michael Morpurgo, one of the most popular children's authors of modern times, and comes in a beautiful keepsake box. With Morpurgo attracting a new legion of fans after the success of the West End play and Steven Spielberg's Hollywood adaptation of War Horse, there has never been a better time to introduce your children to his other fantastic heart-warming stories. A natural storyteller, his books are epic tales of triumph and tragedy, human kindness and cruelty, animal humility and sensitivity. Morpurgo introduces children to some of the bigger issues of life, often against the backdrop of of brilliantly researched history.
Description by Single Titles
War Horse
Kensuke's Kingdom
Long Way Home
Mr Nobody's Eyes
The Wreck of the Zanzibar
King of the Cloud Forests
Escape from Shangri-La
Why the Whales Came
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