Plot:
It is about a soldier
called Thomas "Tommo" Peaceful, who is looking back on his life from
the trenches of World War I in France. Each chapter of the book
brings the reader closer to the present until the story turns to present
tense. It
all starts off with him explaining his pure dread of having to go to school
with his elder brother Charlie. (His other brother ‘Big Joe’ has learning
difficulties and so stays at home with his Mother). At school he meets a young girl named Molly
(of whom he develops a love for) and after that day Thomas, Charlie and Molly
become bestfriends or the ‘trio’ as they call it. They go on many adventures
together however Thomas realises that Charlie and Molly grow closer and he
feels left out. Later on Charlie and Thomas get recruited for the army and are
taken to train and then on to the trenches of France. From here many twists and
turns take place until the end where all seems lost.
Characters:
Thomas
Peaceful- Protagonist
Charlie
Peaceful- Thomas’ elder Brother
Big Joe-
Thomas’ oldest brother
Mother-
Mother
Molly- the
boy’s bestfriend
Grandma Wolf-
horrid Grandmother
Sergeant
‘Horrible’ Hanley- Sergeant who brings difficulty to them in the later stages
of the book
The
Colonel- employer
What I enjoyed:
I enjoyed
the way Michael Morpurgo changed the tense until the two stories met. He
included facts as well as places we had visited on the Ypres trip. It really
emphasized what it was like to be a soldier in WW1: the diet, the conditions,
diseases, feelings, weather, the training and recruitment and how the English
ploughed through.
Recommended for 11+
Those who want a first hand account of life of a soldier in WW1.
I would give this book 4 stars as the ending was a slight anti-climax.
Enjoy!
