Michael Morpurgo Collection 12 Books Box Set

This Michael Morpurgo collection brings together twelve novels, including Farm Boy, a sequel to War Horse that moves the story forward fifty years as Grandpa shares Joey’s history with his grandson, alongside a long-held secret. The set also includes stories such as Born to Run, which follows a champion greyhound’s life as it passes from owner to owner, and Shadow, where Aman and his mother encounter a war-ravaged Springer Spaniel near their Afghan cave.

Across the box set, Morpurgo returns to wartime settings, family histories and bonds between people and animals. An Elephant in the Garden is set in Dresden in 1945, while Private Peaceful is told in the voice of Private Tommo Peaceful and unfolds over twenty-four hours at the front, framed by memories of home. Other titles range from an abandoned village and an adventurous cat in The Amazing Story of Adolphus Tips to the discovery of a medal and photograph that reveal a hidden past in A Medal for Leroy.

Included titles

• Farm boy
• Born to Run
• Shadow
• An Elephant in the Garden
• The Amazing Story of Adolphus Tips
• A Medal for Leroy
• Running Wild
• Private Peaceful
• Alone on a Wide Wide Sea
• Listen to the Moon
• Little Manfred
• The Butterfly Lion

Key details

• 12-book collection by Michael Morpurgo
• Includes Farm Boy, a sequel to War Horse
• Includes Private Peaceful with an introduction by the author and testimonies from soldiers
• Includes A Medal for Leroy, inspired by the true story of Walter Tull

Synopses

Farm boy

A sequel to War Horse that moves forward fifty years. Grandpa tells his grandson Joey’s story and reveals a “shameful secret” he has kept for years.

Born to Run

A bittersweet story combining joy and heartbreak, following a champion greyhound’s journey through life and from owner to owner.

Shadow

Aman and his mother are in need of a friend when a Springer Spaniel appears, thin and marked by war, at the mouth of their Afghan cave.

An Elephant in the Garden

A novel about an extraordinary animal caught up in a very human war. Set in Dresden in 1945.

The Amazing Story of Adolphus Tips

A tale set against the backdrop of the Second World War, centred on an abandoned village, a lifelong friendship and an adventurous cat.

A Medal for Leroy

Inspired by the true story of Walter Tull, the first black officer in the British army. Michael, who never knew his RAF pilot father, is given a medal and then a photograph, which begin to uncover a hidden history and raise questions of family, identity and loss.

Running Wild

A jungle adventure in which Will and his mother travel to Indonesia. For them, the trip is an escape and a new start after the death of Will’s father.

Private Peaceful

Told in the voice of Private Tommo Peaceful, the story follows twenty-four hours at the front during the First World War. It also draws on his memories of family and village life, which is not as peaceful as it seems.

Alone on a Wide Wide Sea

A lyrical novel that opens with a departure from Liverpool, with the narrator recalling the ship leaving England and little else of home.

Listen to the Moon

Set in May 1915. Alfie and his fisherman father find an injured, thirsty girl on an uninhabited island in the Scillies, with no memory of who she is or how she arrived, and able to say only one word: Lucy.

Little Manfred

In the Imperial War Museum there is a wooden Dachshund carved by a German prisoner of war for the children of a British family he stayed with after the fighting ended. This story traces how it came to be there, beginning when a German survivor of the Bismarck is taken aboard a British ship as a prisoner of war.

The Butterfly Lion

A story of a boy growing up in Africa and his lifelong friendship with a white lion. Bertie rescues an orphaned white lion cub, but they are separated when he is sent to boarding school in England and the lion is sold to a circus.