Not Bad for a Bad Lad

Michael Morpurgo was born in 1943, and studied at London University. After university, he taught in a primary school, where each day he had to read a story to his pupils. Nobody was enthralled by this, neither Morpurgo nor the children, and instead he 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.' Michael Morpurgo has now written over 90 children’s books, and was Children’s Laureate from 2003–2005.

He was a favourite of both my children, and has produced, in War Horse, one of the finest horse stories of recent years. The book has been turned into a play and film, and the Broadway version won the Best Play at the Tony Awards, 2011.

Finding the books
All the books are still in print. Reprints and secondhand copies are very easy to find, and not generally expensive. A first UK edition of War Horse would, now that it has reached such stratospheric success, be extremely expensive.

Sources and links
Michael Morpurgo’s website
Geoff Fox: Dear Mr Morpingo (Wizard, London, 2004)