Michael Morpurgo’s Collection: Stories from the Children’s Laureate

By Michael Morpurgo

Five of award-winning author Michael Morpurgo’s best-loved stories, brought together in this beautiful gift collection. The perfect present for any child. A mini-library from a master storyteller.

THE BUTTERFLY LION
Bertie resuces an orphaned white lion cub from the African veld. They are inseparable until Bertie is sent to boarding school far away in England and the lion is sold to a circus berties swears that one day they will see one another again…

COOL!
Robbie lies in a coma. He can hear, but he can’t tell his family that he loves them, that he’s going to be OK. Everyone comes to visit Robbie – even the famous Chelsea footballer, Zola. Will they ever be able to bring him back?

DEAR OLLY
As Olly waits for her brother Matt’s letters, she watches the swallows preparing to leave for the winter. Matt sees the children in the African orphanage and knows he made the right decision to come, but he could never have dreamt what would happen to him there…

TORO! TORO!
Antonito lives an idyllic life on his parents’ bull farm in Spain. But the idyll is shattered when he realises that his beloved bull calf, Paco, is destined for the bloody struggle of the bull ring. What can he do…?

PRIVATE PEACEFUL
Young Thomas Peaceful looks back over his childhood memories from the battlefields of the First World War. But the clock is ticking, and every moment Tommo spends remembering, means another moment closer to something that will change his life for ever.

Format: Other Format
Ageband: 8 to 13
Release Date: 07 Nov 2005
Pages: None
ISBN: 978-0-00-721135-7
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.

”For PRIVATE PEACEFUL: '…a deeply moving portrayal of camaraderie and courage, innocence and brutality” - Telegraph

”For COOL: 'Absorbing and satisfying … with a real story at its heart” - Guardian

”For DEAR OLLY: 'My daughter got to Michael Morpurgo’s Dear Olly before me. 'This is excellent,” - she informed me gravely. And it is… We both cried buckets.' The Times

”For TORO! TORO!: 'Once again, Morpurgo demonstrates his talent for stories of absolute clarity about big events” - Sunday Times

”For THE BUTTERFLY LION: '…will touch all hearts - both young and old” - Virginia McKenna, Born Free Foundation

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Edinburgh Fringe – Private Peaceful

About the show: ‘Private Peaceful at the theatre is a moving experience that not only tells the story of a young soldier’s final day in World War One, but perhaps more importantly conveys the strength of human spirit’ (Michael Morpurgo). ‘The horrors of war and the joyfulness of life are… Read More

Michael at the memorial of Thomas Samuel Henry Peacefull

Michael Morpurgo’s novel Private Peaceful was partly inspired by the memorial of a young soldier that he saw in the Bedford House Cemetery in Ypres, Flanders.  A few years after the book first published, Maxine Keeble  was researching her family tree and thought that there might be a connection. She… Read More

Private Peaceful | Pick Me Up Theatre

From 14 – 18 March 2017 a one-man stage adaptation of Private Peaceful will be performed at the John Cooper Studio Theatre, York. Private Peaceful tells the story of a young First World War soldier as he recalls his childhood memories while waiting for dawn on the Western Front. George Stagnell plays… Read More

Reflect on the life of Private Peaceful in the classroom

Join Michael Morpurgo on the 24th of June to teach your class about life in WW1 before the centenary of the Battle of the Somme on July 1st Michael Morpurgo, in partnership with HarperCollins Children’s Books, is hosting a real-time digital event on the 24th of June to encourage children… Read More

Private Peaceful to premiere on BBC One

Private Peaceful, an adaptation of Michael’s beloved First World War novel, will air on Sunday 24th January at 11.30pm. The film will follow a screening of War Horse, another film based on Morpurgo’s work, the same weekend. Morpurgo has urged parents and young people to stay up and watch the adaptation,… Read More