A tender, lyrical tale from the author's childhood in an idyllic English village, with environmental and conservational themes. In this involving tale, master storyteller and former children's laureate Michael Morpurgo revisits the "landscape of his memories", telling of his boyhood fifty years before. The village of Bradwell is a stone's throw from the sea and is peopled by quirky characters such as the three Stebbing sisters, the white moustachioed Colonel Burton and Bennie the village thug. But the heroine of this story is the serene Mrs Pettigrew, who lives in a railway carriage down in the marshes with her dogs, donkey, bees and hens. Industrial reality intrudes when plans are made to build a nuclear power station on the marshes, and when a village battle ensues for and against this environmental hazard, young Michael finds himself caught up in the sad fate of Mrs Pettigrew and the landscape of his boyhood.
This book has been graded for interest at 7-10 years.
There are 96 pages in this book. This book was published 2016 by Walker Books Ltd .
Peter Bailey has been illustrating books for more than thirty-five years and has worked with many of today's best known authors, including Philip Pullman, Allan Ahlberg, Michael Morpurgo and Joan Aiken. He lives near Liverpool with his wife, Sian, who is also an illustrator. Michael Morpurgo has brought together poems by writers as diverse as Spike Milligan and Stevie Smith, John Lennon and Jo Shapcott.
This book contains the following story:
Homecoming
"It's still true." That's the first thing James Tillerman says to his older sister, Dicey, every morning. It's still true that their mother has abandoned the four Tillermans in a mall parking lot somewhere in the middle of Connecticut. It's still true that they have to find their own way to Great-aunt Cilla's house in Bridgeport. It's still true that they need to spend as little as possible on food and seek shelter anywhere that is out of view of the authorities. It's still true that the only way they can hope to all stay together is to just keep moving forward. Deep down, Dicey hopes they can find someone to trust, someone who will take them in and love them. But she's afraid it's just too much to hope for....
