Today is the last day of the Michael Morpurgo Animals Book Tour! Did you follow the nine UK top parent bloggers to take a closer look at some of Michael’s best-loved animal stories? If not, do remember to visit their blogs and get a chance to win a Signed Copy of Michael Morpurgo’s book!
Since today is the last day of the book tour, we are taking our readers on a mind blowing adventure of Will Robert, inspired from a newspaper article about Amber Owen, who was saved from the 2004 tsunami by an elephant whom she was riding at the time.
This book is a paperback containing 352 pages with a few illustrations. The font comes in one size. It was released in 2009 and published by HarperCollins Children’s Books. It is suitable for aged nine and above. This is the first time, Mr K has read such a thick book and he did managed to finish reading it in five days. The story is very intriguing and challenging to read.
The story recounts the adventures of a boy who has to survive in the Indonesian jungle after being saved from a tsunami by an elephant. Will and his mother decided to visit Indonesia as an escape and fresh start to put things behind them – things like the death of Will’s father, who died in the Iraq war.
It starts off where Will is riding Oona, the elephant on the beach. Oona is in an odd mood that day and begins acting strangely, shying away from the sea. She knew something is coming! And that is when the tsunami comes crashing in, and Oona begins to run with Will clinging on for dear life. As they ascend a hill, Will witnesses the Boxing Day tsunami obliterating the beach where he had been moments earlier. When the tsunami is gone, Oona just keeps on running into the jungle with Will. After spending time together, Will begins to learn to communicate with Oona and finds food for them to survive the harsh wildlife. He remembers a long-ago lesson from his father, who taught him how to catch fish from a stream using his clothing as a net. Then one day, there is a standoff between Oona and a tiger, and Will remembers the poem “The Tyger” by William Blake. As brave as he is to survive this encounter, he meets another problem. He is kidnapped by hunters, and finds out about threats to the rainforest through trade in exotic pets, animal furs, palm oil and timber.
Mr K loves the storyline and it brings him to a place where he has never visited before but the wonderful storytelling brings these exotic places to life. There are plenty of highs and lows with emotions of a child and the relationships between Will and the animals. It might be a sad start but it is a story full of adventure and how through times a boy grew his confident and learned to survive. It is definitely a good read. The book is widely available to buy in paperback or audio on Amazon.
Did you know that Michael Morpurgo is one of the UK’s most celebrated authors and has written over 140 books in a career spanning over 40 years? He has won numerous prizes, including The Children’s Book Award for a record fourth time last year for his novel An Eagle in the Snow. Many of his novels have been adapted into stage shows and several of his titles have been made into films, most famously the Steven Spielberg-directed War Horse. Do check out the rest of his titles!
Now Harper Collins is giving a Signed Copy of Running Wild by Michael Morpurgo to one of my followers! So good luck and enter through Gleam! Also, remember to check out the rest of my giveaways!
Signed Copy of Running Wild by Michael Morpurgo
House Rules:
- This giveaway is open to all UK residents only.
- ONE winner will be chosen via Gleam and announced on this page.
- The winner will be contacted by e-mail within 3 days of competition ends. If they do not respond within 28 days another winner may be chosen.
- Your details will be passed to Harper Collins, but will not be passed onto any third parties by ET Speaks From Home.
- The prize will be sent directly to the winner from Harper Collins.
- Delivery is not in the hands of ET Speaks From Home’s Blog and may take some time to arrive.
- Any damage to the prize is not ET Speaks From Home’s responsibility.
- Entries using any software or automated process to make bulk entries will be disqualified.
- Competition starts on 20/10/2017 12 am – 03/11/2017 11.59pm.
Disclosure: We received the samples for the purposes of writing this review however all thoughts and opinions remain our own. Contains Amazon affiliate links.
