In the tradition of National Velvet and Black Beauty, War Horse is a moving tale of a horse and a time. The horse is Joey. The time is World War One. After bonding with thirteen-year-old Albert at the family farm, Joey is sold to the Army by Albert’s struggling dad. And so the adventure and a series of encounters with a wide range of people begins. An image from Spielberg's magnificent film - from AOLThey run the course from a loving teenage French girl to cruel Teutonic warriors, from kindly B...

War Horse (War Horse #1), Michael MorpurgoSir Michael Andrew Bridge Morpurgo, OBE, FRSL, FKC is an English book author, poet, playwright, and librettist who is known best for children's novels such as War Horse.War Horse is a children's novel by British author Michael Morpurgo. It was first published in 1982. The story recounts the experiences of Joey, a horse purchased by the Army for service in World War I France and the attempts of young Albert, his previous owner, to bring him safely home. I...

Such a touching hero's tale and such a daring point of view for its audience. I am not an animal person (to the chagrin of my family members) and the beginning chapters of this book just ripped my heart out of my chest and stomped on it. For Joey to be a survivor and still have such love in his soul is so moving.

This story wrecked me. It's a children's book but definitely of a dark(er) nature as it deals with experiences from WWI. And it is all written from the persective of Joey, the titular horse.Joey was sold to a farm when young. There, he met Albert, his friend, brother, master. Albert's father, who bought Joey when drunk to stick it to a neighbouring farmer, is not a man one can like (easily), but Albert is not only young and idealistic but also kind and gentle. One day, Joey is sold to the Army f...

I’m not crying, you’re crying! Sniff...I’ll admit, I’d never heard of this book before Steven Spielberg adapted it into a really rather wonderful film. As soon as I saw the movie, though, I added it to my to-read list. Said list is very long, however, and I’ve only just got around to reading the book.Verily, it hath broken me. What an amazingly good tale. I had no idea the book was narrated by the titular horse but I loved it. Sure, it’s a narrative conceit, as the horse knows things a horse cou...

See my FULL review of this book on my blog along with others at: shesgoingbookcrazy.com”That’s what war is all about, my friend. It’s about which of us is the madder.”I remember when I saw this movie when it first came out in theatre. At the time, I didn’t realize it was an adaptation from a book. Naturally, when I learned of its origins, I had to read the book as well! War Horse is told in a similar fashion to Black Beauty, as it is told from the horse’s (Joey’s) perspective. While this point...

Childhood memories always appear like pixelated images you can't fully decipher. Whenever someone asks me what my earliest childhood book memory it often goes back to little me clutching and reading Black Beauty on the living room floor. Reading War Horse gave me the same childhood innocence and affection — deeply caring over another horse, Joey (another unforgettable horse of literature for me was Orwell's Boxer in Animal Farm), as he ventured in a world at war, of violence and cruelty, and fin...

Such a beautiful story. Watched the film immediately after reading and couldn’t stop crying.

This is a double wow book for me! Joey, the war horse, tells about his adventures during World War 1 and the special bond he has with a young boy named Albert. At only 160 pages or so, it goes very fast. I loved it! I look forward to seeing the movie which is coming out on Christmas. (Gerard's review)War Horse is a touching book that kept my interest all through. Although it is a children's book, I enjoyed it but must admit I got teary-eyed reading it. Parts were very sad but I loved the ending!...

“I can hate you more, but I'll never love you less.” This book is so beautiful in many ways. I wanted to weep all day after I finished. War Horse is very unique because it's told by Joey, a horse being thrusted into the war on the Western Front. The story is innocent, yet it's so sensational and full of angst from the characters. I felt attached to the story from the first chapter and couldn't peel my eyes off then. Morpugo created such a striking story about the war with a horse and a boy t

War Horse is one of the best-known children’s novels by Michael Morpurgo. And it is an enormously poignant little book.As the title suggests, it is the odyssey of a horse, Joey, brought from Devon across the English Channel and into France and the hell of the Great War, both through the English and the German trenches. The story is narrated in simple language (in, say, the tradition of Ernest Hemingway) from the unusual perspective of the horse. And this is done with an incredible sense of human...

If somebody told me that book written in horse's POV would be this emotional, I wouldn't have believed it.From page one, I knew that this wasn't going to be happy and light read (even in chapter 1 so much happened). It dealt with war, and how unfair and stupid it is. But it also dealt with so much more than that. It's a story about friendship, loyalty, love and survival. And I felt like this book was so much longer than it actually was. I guess that is because so much happened in it. But surpris...

Small Books can often leave big impressions and this is the case with War Horse by Michael Morpurgo.Michael Murpurgo writes wonderful children's novels and I had loved some of his books very much and War Horse is one of those books that leaves a lasting impression.This is not a novel with a complicated plot or twists and turns but a beautiful story simply told and I find sometimes these can be the best. Warhorse is a moving story about a horse called Joey and his experiences during service in th...

A beautiful and touching story. Not overly complicated or grim but simple and clean and easy to follow but also easy to care about the characters.

4.5 stars in fact. I would have given this book 5 stars if the last chapter had been longer and told more about Albert's and his horse Joey's story after the end of World War I. But I found the plot and the building of the characters great.

I'm clearly the only person in the world who doesn't like, doesn't get, this book.The horse is a Gary Stu (See here if you don't know what one of those is http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_Sue) - he knows everything, from what guns and cannons are, to what wire is and what it can do, the terms for everythng in his world, including politics and the type of bit in his mouth.I'm used to anthropomorphic animals, and have been since I was born--but Joey should be dressed up in a waistcoat and walking...

I listened to this on audio and was listening to this while making my way to a ‘gig’ at Wooster College in Ohio, where I was to draw caricatures. Drawing caricatures for the public requires a certain amount of upbeat interaction, so it might not have been a good time to cry over Joey the War Horse. I hope my Eyes weren’t all puffy.Joey is a special horse. Special enough to be purchased to serve in the first world war as a Calvary horse. But the whole time he is in the war he longs for the day he...

With this poignant and heart-wrenching novel, with his War Horse, author Michael Morpurgo (while of course focussing primarily on the main character, a so-called war horse, who like Anna Sewell's Black Beauty, personally narrates his own story) demonstrates both clearly and also rather painfully not only the utter futility and wanton destructiveness of war in a general sense, but that like poor Joey, the common foot soldiers (in this particular case, the British and German soldiers of WWI) are b...

A book about war. About fighting and surviving.A book about friendship and loyalty. And about death and grief and moving on. Written from the POV of a horse, this book was absolutely breathtaking. And honetsly, not only the book. I cried when I read the book and I cried even harder when I watched the movie.It was one of the few books I read that was actually about WWI. Since so many books are about the Second World War I was very intrigued about a book that pictured the First one!The main part

This was probably not intended as a children's book, it has plenty for the adult reader, offering more depth than many books written for adults for adults. The narrative style is sufficiently engaging that it has great potential for reading at a single sitting.Making Joey, the (war) horse, the narrator was a brilliant move on Michael Morpurgo's part, since it simultaneously encourages children to think about the effect of their actions on others (for who could not empathise with Joey?) and helps...