Farm Boy is the second installment to Michael Morpurgo's War Horse Series. Although this book is short and recommended to much younger readers of the first book, War Horse, the book has this imprint of Morpurgo's writing style even you turn the pages upside down. The usage of thorough old country mouse English, the pre- and post- World War 1 setting, the long beautiful and struggling narrative, the patience and of course, the much awaited Morpurgo's love to horses.In Farm Boy, Morpurgo changed something big in this book. Instead of writing Joey's point of view, this time, Morpurgo wrote Albert's point of view by using his son's, now a grandfather of the protagonist, way of portraying his father in the old days. Farm Boy is another retelling of the past and another short legend to be told to the young, an after story for the hero of the past.The book can be subdivided into three parts or stories; the summary, the Grandfather's story and the conclusion of the protagonist to his dilemma. The summary tells the story and adventure of Albert, named Corporal after the World War 1 in the entire book, when he was fourteen in his own point of view and to claim his promise to the horse when his drunkard father sold the horse to the army. The Grandfather's story of his father and the legend of the old wrecked tractor in the barn which is the main story of the book. And lastly, the protagonists struggle to conquer his parents' wants for him and his own will to decide his future. Three stories enough to fit a 33-paged electronic book with large illustrations to be enjoyed by everyone.I'm not a maniac but I find it difficult to understand the Corporal's love to the horse. Joey, Albert's bay horse with four white socks and a cross in the forehead, had a special love to Albert. What I mean is more than best friends, more than a brother. Something a male horse, an animal, and a human being share a special bond like your neighbor's maiden having a special interest to a dog. But it was Joey Father loved best. If ever he got sick, Father would bed down with him in his stable and never leave his side. He loved that horse like a brother, more maybe.From the text above, the protagonist's grandfather described his father's love to the horse. Is this another zoophilia case or a homosexuality? Nobody could tell. Another evidence was the jealousy of the Corporal's wife towards Joey in the end of the first book.He talked to me of many things after that... and of course about Masie, whose crusty bread was every bit as good as he had said. But try as I might, I never got to eat any her pasties and do you know, she never even offered me one. — from War HorseMore than that, we cannot consider the Corporal's love to be gay or zoophilia for that first text above was mentioned by his son. Truth, the son suspected his father but loved him so much. And the second text, it was Joey's suspicion to his best friend's wife. If only Corporal could tell the truth. There are also some hidden sexually messages or foreshadowing in the War Horse or maybe I'm just a freak who read Fifty Shades of Grey while reading this. But do you think that things like that happen in children's literature?For Morpurgo's love of horses, I knew from the very start that Morpurgo love the companion of horses but he thinks of them as simply animals who don't have a soul. Is that against of any animal welfare crime? Any living things, anything that moves have souls except automaton. But philosophies and perspectives of men cannot be argued fully for they chose their own answers and defend for it until the end of their lives.Kindest man that ever lived, my father. Big and gentle, just like Joey. But he had spirit all right.The Grandfather's description of his dead father with the same characteristics as Joey but his father had the spirit or soul that differ him from the animal. But animals can talk, it's just that we cannot understand them for there are many ways to communicate or maybe the Grandfather thought of it as lower form of being than humans or maybe not. Where is the love grandpapa?The Grandfather's story is quite hard to read compared to War Horse and the rest of the parts. Because the Grandfather never attended his school in the past for he is a farm boy, the letter missed most of the punctuation marks and spellings that the author emphasizes in the letter. Plus, the letter is the spotlight of the book so a reader requires patience to fully aware of what he is reading in that part and to enjoy immensely. Characters in the story are named compared to the main character, the Grandfather and Corporal. So be careful also of nouns used to describe the characters as names.Illustrations are great; they are sketches of the old posters of the past. Such as a poster is trying to advertise to save horses in the war and the first released of tractors in the market and how farming changed after that. The author also includes humor for everyone and hopes you'll enjoy everything as a whole.‘I was thinking about her on the dresser,’ he said. It took me a moment or two to work out who he meant. ‘Be twenty years today. She went and left me twenty years ago today. Everything to me, she was, and she goes and dies on me. And you know what? We was in the middle of something, something we hadn’t finished. And she took ill and died. She shouldn’t have. She shouldn’t have.’‘What were you in the middle of?’He looked at me and tried to smile.Rating: Farm Boy by Michael Morpurgo, 3½ SweetsChallenges: Book #72 for 2011
This is a sequel to War Horse but it was so different that it almost seemed to be written by different authors. It is a sequel, but the books have completely different styles and feelings to them. I loved Farm Boy and only kind of liked War Horse. Farm Boy is 1/2 illustrations and 1/2 story, a quick and easy read. The story is about Albert's son, who is now grown up and an old man. He reminisces on his life with Joey and Zoey after the war, which took place in the first book. The great-grandson of Albert has come to stay for the summer with his grandfather, a man with a secret he's been hiding his whole life. The grandson spends his summer helping his grandfather with this secret and listening, probably not for the first time, of stories of the old man's younger days. The main story centers around one incident when a bragging neighbor bet that his new tractor could cut a field of hay faster than the old man and his two old farm horses. It is like a tortoise and hare retelling, really, with "modern" farm machinery against traditional values of man and beast. I was crying by page 20 and that lasted all the way to the last page. I really liked this story. It was such a fast read, more like a short story than a novel. The illustrations reminded me of another childhood favorite, The Little House on the Prairie series. The story reminded me of my own youth, long summer drives with my own grandmother listening to the stories of her youth. It was sweet and touching and a beautiful story to share with young people.
What do You think about Farm Boy (1999)?
Farm Boy is the sequel to War Horse, by Michael Morpurgo. The story is narrated by the great-grandson of Albert, the owner of Joey. He goes to stay with his grandfather, who is Albert's son, on the old family farm. He hears the story of Albert and Joey's war years and also learns a secret that his grandfather has hidden for years--he is unable to read or write. He begins to teach his grandfather, who promises to pay him well for the lessons. But the young man earns something far richer--as he hears the stories of life on the farm, he decides that this might be the life for him too.This is a tender and nostalgic look at a bygone era of English rural life. A great quick read.
—Jan
This book is short - 106 pages, however, almost every page is half taken up with illustrations. I think the pictures really add to the story, but I felt a little like this should have been included in a short story or novella collection. Despite its short length, the author manages manages to accomplish a story-within-a-story here, both of which are good, though I found the deliberate spelling and grammatical errors in the second half a little distracting. While it's called a sequel to War Horse, and it does in fact revisit Joey, this is really more of a stand-alone book. I feel that this one would perhaps appeal to a bit younger audience than War Horse. A nice story.
—Thebruce1314
'Farm Boy' is a cute short story based on the descendants of the characters from 'War Horse'. Unfortunately, it is missing two of the key items that made 'War Horse' so compelling: the horse's point of view and World War I.This book is incredibly short (my edition is 106 pages of large type and many large illustrations), so it is also nowhere near as in depth as the first installment. It is told from the point of view of Albert's great-great grandson while he visits his own grandfather (Albert's son) at the farm. The grandfather tells stories of his own father and his horse, Joey, which is how this ties in with 'War Horse'.The emotions that ran strong in the first book, just don't exist in this one. Also, it seems to be written at a lower grade level, which is odd for a sequel. My 11 year old loved 'War Horse' as much as I did and we cried together over Joey's hardships. She wouldn't even give this one a second glance. I would estimate it's at more of an 8 year old level.Still, it was a nice little story that doesn't take long to read. If you are interested in what happened to Joey and Albert after the war, this gives you a little taste of that.
—Samantha
