Farm Boy
Written by Michael Morpurgo
Narrated by Michael Morpurgo and Derek Jacobi
3.5/5
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About this audiobook
Read by Derek Jacobi and Michael Morpurgo
Set on a farm in rural Devon, this is a collection of Grandpa’s reminiscences and stories as told to his grandson. Grandpa’s nature and his touching relationship with the boy is evoked superbly by Michael Morpurgo’s writing.
This two-voice read brings the characters to life as the story of Grandpa’s ‘shame’ (the fact that he cannot read and write) unfolds.
Derek Jacobi is sensitive and compelling in the role of Grandpa, inspiring a true sense of achievement and triumph as he finally tells his own story in his own words.
Michael Morpurgo
Michael Morpurgo is one of Britain’s best-loved writers for children. He has written over 130 books including War Horse, which was adapted for a hugely successful stage production by the National Theatre and then, in 2011, for a film directed by Steven Spielberg. Michael was Children’s Laureate from 2003 to 2005. The charity Farms for City Children, which he founded thirty years ago with his wife Clare, has now enabled over 70,000 children to spend a week living and working down on the farm. His enormous success has continued with his most recent novels Flamingo Boy and The Snowman, inspired by the classic story by Raymond Briggs. He was knighted in 2018 for services to literature and charity.
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Reviews for Farm Boy
43 ratings8 reviews
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5And yet another delightful, lovely Michael Morpugo book! Wonderful narration.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5A wonderful story of young and old, past and present
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A sequel to War Horse, although it has little in common with its predecessor other than sharing a few characters. Albert bets that he and his horse Joey can out plow a tractor.It's not a deep tale, but it's well told and kids will probably like it. It reminded me of the story of John Henry, but with a thankfully happier ending.
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5I had high hopes for thsi book, the sequel to WAR HORSE, but found myself mired in trying to figure out that grandpa was really the son of Albert in the book. Yes, it is explained but I still struggled. It does bring closure to Joey's life after World War II but the story is slight. American readers will get confused with some of the Britishisms in the story and when the narrator (Albert's great grandson) teaches his grandpa to read, the story that Grandpa wrote can be challening to read. The reader will have to read the sentence with Id in it twice to realize it is I'd. I love Morpurgo's books, but this one isn't his best.
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5A sequel to War Horse. The Grandfather's tale of his younger life on the farm with Joey and Zoey his farm horses. A good gentle read.
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/558) [Farm Boy] - Not bad, per se, but disappointing. When you market a book as the sequel to something, readers generally expect them to be similar: to have the same air about it. This book was obviously for a different age demographic, had a vastly different writing style, and if MM hadn't specifically stated the characters were the same from the first book, I wouldn't have had known in; the characters of Joey and Albert were very flat. I would have liked it a lot better if it hadn't raised my hopes about it being a follow-up to one of my favorite books.
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5I picked up this audiobook because it was partially performed by Derek Jacobi and because it revisits some of the characters from War Horse, a book which I read this year and fell in love with. Here, a young man visits with his grandfather on the family farm where the old man asks him to stay on for a few months to teach him how to read and write. When the young man leaves to go travelling, he finds his elder has left him an envelope with a handwritten story of how he and his own father won a race between their horses and a man on a tractor. One of the horses in question is Joey, the star of War Horse and we find out that he had a long life and a comfortable retirement. Sweet.
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5I love War Horse. It's brilliant. This isn't.I mean, don't get me wrong, it's good, it's a nice little fable. I just don't see the point in it having the same characters as War Horse, because the stories are unconnected.