Dear Mr Morpingo: Inside the World of Michael Morpurgo

In presenting the life and work of the present children’s laureate, Fox is respectfully self-effacing. This is an introduction for children; and he is concerned to describe his subject in a way that is instructive and engaging, and that will invite his readers to discover the stories for themselves.  For the most part, Fox allows the subject to speak for himself. Anyone who has heard Michael Morpurgo talk about his work will recognise the carefully prepared stories with which he frames readings from his written work and the tone of quiet authority, and measured intimacy and excitement, in which he delivers them. These talks are at the centre of Fox’s book. They are preceded by a biography which, again in the Morpurgo manner, links revelatory moments in the author’s life to his books. This shares the insecurities and pressures of a childhood and young adulthood that, even now, influence the laureate’s sense of self and his work, whatever his success both as a writer and, with his wife Clare, in their Farms for City Children. At the other end of the book is a series of chapters about Morpurgo’s writing practices, and his personal likes and dislikes, which cleverly introduces the tools of basic literary criticism, while never losing sight of the subject of the story. The whole is an entertaining and thoughtful children’s introduction to the stories and the man, as well as a valuable resource for teachers.