Private Peaceful by Michael MorpurgoThe main characters in this story are brothers Charlie and Tommo Peaceful.
The first half of the story is set in the village in which Charlie and Tommo live with their family. Here we see Tommo struggle with a secret that burdens him but he is afraid to tell to anyone; Charlie takes the place of father figure in the family when their own father dies; Charlie and Tommo meet and make friends with Molly, and their friendship is tested when they both fall in love with her; their oldest brother Big Joe goes missing; and all the while Grandma Wolf and the Colonel undermine the close family and inflict cruelty on them...and thats just the first half of the book!
In the second half of the book the story moves to the trenches in World War I where both brothers have enlisted in the army. The book dosen't flinch from the realities of war - trenchfoot, lice, loneliness, fear and death; and Michael Morpurgo writes so descriptively that the kids said they felt they were there with Charlie and Tommo living the story.
This book has many themes and plots running through it but never get complicated. It's interesting, exciting and sad and you wont put it down until you come to the last page...and if you're Hugh you'll get to the last page...and then start reading it all over again!
Everyone in the Bookclub without exception loved this book. We gave it 9 1/2 out of 10.
Michael Morpurgo has written over 100 childrens books...
War Horse
The Butterfly Lion
The Wreck of the Zanzibar
Arthur, High King of Britain
Kensuke's Kingdom
Farm Boy
Cool!
Why The Whale Came...
He has won lots of awards for his writing including The Smarties Prize, The Whitbread Award and The Childrens Book Award.
His favourite book growing up was Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson.
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