This volume contains short stories, essays and commentaries to illuminate the craft of storytelling. Analyzing various aspects of writing - character, plot, sources and inspiration, retelling and biography - this collection is suitable for those who loves great stories and wants to know more about the art of telling tales.

How far would you go to find yourself? This is the lyrical, life-affirming new novel from Michael Morpurgo. When orphaned Arthur Hobhouse is shipped to Australia after World War II he loses his sister, his country and everything he knows. The coming years will test him to his limits, as he endures mistreatment, neglect and forced labour in the Australian outback. But Arthur is also saved, again and again, by his love of the sea. And when he meets a nurse whose father owns a boat-building business, all the pieces of his broken life come together. Now, at the end of his life, Arthur has built a special boat for his daughter Allie, whose love of the sea is as strong and as vital as her father’s. Now Allie has a boat that will take her to England solo, across the world’s roughest seas, in search of her father’s long-lost sister. Will the threads of Arthur’s life finally come together?

The stunning new novel of World War One from Michael Morpurgo, the nation’s favourite storyteller and multi-million copy bestseller. May, 1915. Alfie and his fisherman father find a girl on an uninhabited island in the Scillies - injured, thirsty, lost…and with absolutely no memory of who she is, or how she came to be there. She can say only one word: Lucy. Where has she come from? Is she a mermaid, the victim of a German U-boat, or even - as some islanders suggest - a German spy…? Only one thing is for sure: she loves music and moonlight, and it is when she listens to the gramophone that the glimmers of the girl she once was begin to appear. WW1 is raging, suspicion and fear are growing, and Alfie and Lucy are ever more under threat. But as we begin to see the story of Merry, a girl boarding a great ship for a perilous journey across the ocean, another melody enters the great symphony - and the music begins to resolve…A beautiful tour de force of family, love, war and forgiveness, this is a major new novel from the author of PRIVATE PEACEFUL - in which what was once lost may sometimes be found, washed up again on the shore…

Jackie dreams of having a horse of her own, one that’ll be the fastest on the estate, the fastest in all Ireland and the fastest in the world. Mum dreams of a little cottage in the country for her and Jackie to live in. What they get is a garden gnome that Jackie finds in a rubbish skip; one she lovingly repairs and paints; a gnome she calls Mr Skip. And Jackie soon discovers that with Mr Skip, anything is possible.

As a boy, Tod saves the small white fawn from certain death. They grow up together but when the fine stag leaves, Tod could never have predicted that he would become so powerful that he becomes King. And no kingdom can have two kings.

A moving countryside tale about the power of friendship and creativity from the nation's favourite children's author.Bonny has always wanted to be a top cyclist, maybe even a future Olympic champion like her hero, Laura Trott. When she gets a new racing bike for her birthday, she heads out into the Dales like always, speeding along. But when she's distracted by some cheeky horses, she comes off her bike and discovers that the horses belong to a quiet woman who has an amazing collection of statues on her lawn – a buffalo, a horse lying down, even a man running. Gradually, Bonny gets to know Lizzie and forms a special bond with her horse, Merry, when she is given a job at Lizzie's farm. Bonny is even introduced to a life-sized sculpture of Merry in Lizzie's studio and is allowed to pose as its rider, a completely magical experience. She learns from Lizzie that a true gift is never to be wasted, and if you "breath the world in deep", you can do anything.

Sean and Annie have one chance to escape the potato famine in Ireland, and after surviving a shipwreck they land safely in America in search for their father. But their new land is one of hardship and they live in poverty on the streets of Boston. However, their adventure is just beginning. After living aboard a steamboat they then join pioneers traveling across the prairies. Their music and dancing bring joy to all they meet, but their family "torc"—a golden necklace—brings both blessings and curses, and thieves prowl to get hold of it. Annie and Sean must protect their torc as they search for their father: their family’s survival depends on it.

Michael Morpurgo has created a sweeping and dramatic story in the time of Bonnie Prince Charlie. This spellbinding tale is complemented perfectly by Michael Foreman's illustrations. Robbie McLeod and a wolf cub, both orphaned, venture far from their birthplace, a land of rebellious fighters and vicious redcoats. There is little constancy in Robbie's adventurous life, save for the companionship of his wolf. But when at last Robbie finds a place where he can peacefully make his home, he knows in his heart that the wolf must find his own natural home too . . .

A heart-warming tale of courage and warmth, set against the backdrop of the second world war, about an abandoned village, a lifelong friendship and one very adventurous cat! ‘Classic Morpurgo brilliance’ – Publishing News "Something's up. Something big too, very big. At school, in the village, whoever you meet, it's all anyone talks about. It's like a sudden curse has come down on us all. It makes me wonder if we'll ever see the sun again." It's 1943, and Lily Tregenze lives on a farm, in the idyllic seaside village of Slapton. Apart from her father being away, and the 'townie' evacuees at school, her life is scarcely touched by the war. Until one day, Lily and her family, along with 3000 other villagers, are told to move out of their homes – lock, stock and barrel. Soon, the whole area is out of bounds, as the Allied forces practise their landings for D-day, preparing to invade France. But Tips, Lily's adored cat, has other ideas – barbed wire and keep-out signs mean nothing to her, nor does the danger of guns and bombs. Frantic to find her, Lily makes friends with two young American soldiers, who promise to help her. But will she ever see her cat again? Lily decides to cross the wire into the danger zone to look for Tips herself… Now, many years later, as Michael is reading his Grandma Lily's diary, he learns about The Amazing Story of Adolphus Tips – and wonders how one adventurous cat could still affect their lives sixty years later.

When the strange man who has been watching their house turns out to be the grandfather she has never seen, eleven-year-old Cessie couldn't be happier -- at first sight. But then he has a stroke and actually has to come live with them. Popsicle, as she calls him, is impossible to live with: moody, forgetful, clumsy. Only Cessie loves him and believes in him. So when he is sent off to a home for the elderly, she helps him escape. And plays first mate to him on a dramatic nighttime boat trip across the English channel to unravel a secret only the two of them know. This Morpurgo story makes the reader want to cheer -- young people, the elderly, and courage at any age.

A rich and greedy sultan meets his match in a VERY cheeky little red roosterâ?¦ Hilariously wacky tale by bestselling author of War Horse. The rich and greedy sultan loves his jewels more than anything, so when he loses a diamond button he is furious! Especially as a naughty little red rooster seems determined to keep itâ?¦ A marvellously funny tale by master storyteller, Michael Morpurgo.

Inspired by the true story of Walter Tull, the first black officer in the British army. A new novel about identity and loss by bestselling award-winning author of WAR HORSE. Michael doesn’t remember his father, an RAF pilot lost in the war. And his French mother, heartbroken and passionate, doesn’t like to talk about her husband. But then Auntie Snowdrop gives Michael a medal, followed by a photograph, which begin to reveal a hidden history. A story of love and loss. A story that will change everything – and reveal to Michael who he really is…

A delightful tale of victory against all odds from master storyteller, Michael Morpurgo, lavishly illustrated by Michael Foreman. “Every fox in the whole town, in the whole country just about, is a football fan… And we all have an impossible dream.” In a cosy den under a garden shed lives a family of foxes. They love to watch football – all foxes do. But their favourite team keeps losing and losing, and it seems like things will never look up. That is, until Daddy Fox finds the ghost of a king, buried underneath a car park. A king who wishes only to be free. “Release me,” says the Ghost King, “and I can do anything. Just tell me your greatest wish.” For these football-loving foxes, might everything be about to change…?

This collection by the 2003–2005 Children's Laureate, Michael Morpurgo, contains short stories, essays and commentaries to illuminate the craft of storytelling. Analyzing all aspects of writing – character, plot, sources and inspiration, retelling and biography – it is perfect for anyone, young or old, who loves great stories and wants to know more about the art of telling tales.

A deeply personal and tender story of war, peace and those who are left behind. One hundred years after the war to end all wars, Jacko's descendants discover his notebook and the untold stories tucked in its pages."This war is a nightmare that one day I shall wake from and then forget. And if I don't wake, then you shall never know. I don't want you ever to know."No one seems to know where the scruffy tin hat came from – just that it is very old, from some war or other long ago. To young Michael and his family it has its uses today: as a child's toy, a feeding bowl for the hens, a hanging basket... Then Michael discovers that it belonged to his great-great-grandfather, "Our Jacko", who lost his life at Ypres in 1915. As the boy digs deeper, he finds the young soldier's diary and learns more about his forgotten ancestor – husband, father, poet, actor – who died so tragically young. And it becomes clear exactly how Our Jacko should be...