The Wreck of the Zanzibar

Product Information

When it comes to a choice between the rough, unrelenting work under his father's stern eye and the promise of adventure held out by Joseph Hannibal, a sea-faring visitor, there's no contest. Billy leaves in secret on the General Lee. Book Genre: Academic, Adventure, British Literature, Childrens, European Literature, Fiction, Historical, Historical Fiction, Middle Grade, Novels, School, Young Adult Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License and the GFDL; additional terms may apply. See Terms of Use for details.

Wreck of the Zanzibar by Michael Morpurgo | Waterstones The Wreck of the Zanzibar by Michael Morpurgo | Waterstones

An award-winning duo teams up for Sir Gawain & the Green Knight. England's children's laureate Michael Morpurgo retells this classic medieval tale with illustrations by Michael Foreman. Morpurgo Continue reading » Another lovely read from the fantastic Michael Morpurgo. I didn't enjoy this book as much as some of his others (Kensuke's Kingdom, Billy the Kid), but it was a nice young person's fiction to whiz through in-between some larger reads. The island of Bryher is bleak and barren. Laura's father, a harsh and taciturn man, has turned his son Billy against island life with his incessant demands. Billy wants to see the world outside. Laura just wants to crew the island gig but her father is adamant in his refusal. No girl on any of the Scilly Isles has been an oarsman on a gig and no daughter of his is going to be the first. Morpurgo (War Horse) fuses the devastation of war, anguish of the refugee experience, pain of losing loved ones, healing power of friendship, and redemptive influence of a dog's loyalty in this Continue reading » Life on the island isn't easy, and this is repeatedly made clear throughout the book. The people of the island are constantly threatened by the forces of nature, wind and sea.

Pooling their considerable talents once again, Morpurgo and Birmingham (previously teamed for Wombat Goes Walkabout) craft a superb picture book about a boy, a special swan and the sometimes cruel Continue reading » Former British children’s laureate Morpurgo (War Horse) offers a sweet, touching historical novel (published in the U.K. in 2008) that balances sentimentality with humor and action. The orphaned Continue reading » What if a British soldier had a chance to shoot Hitler on a WWI battlefield but opted to let him go instead? Morpurgo’s incisive historical novel draws inspiration from the life of Henry Tandey, the Continue reading » The book is written in the form of a diary. The entries are shorted on days of turmoil and frustration. The entries are longer when something remarkable has happened.

Wreck of the Zanzibar by Michael Morpurgo | Goodreads The Wreck of the Zanzibar by Michael Morpurgo | Goodreads

A French boy guards the dangerous secret that Jewish children are being hidden from Nazis in his village. ""This well-plotted novel,"" said PW, ""is both gripping and temperate."" Ages 10-14. Continue reading » I'm usually fine with not a lot happening in a story but this didn't work for me when I read it. On saying this, discussing Billy's adventures would be exciting for children and perhaps the simple and rather dull aspect of life on the Scilly Isles at the turn of the 20th century was a true reflection. I liked the idea that the story closes with Michael, just as it opened with him. Morpurgo does this A LOT - a story within a story.Written as a diary entry - I like the idea of doing up the classroom like a set from the book and using maps to find out where the Scilly Isles are and what they look like. Bryher is one of the Isles of Scilly. It's a very tiny island, and it is very hard work trying to scratch a living there.

The Wreck of the Zanzibar - Primary Resources The Wreck of the Zanzibar - Primary Resources

The illustrations are gorgeous, for their part, though, and really very enjoyable as an alongside. It's a small, distant story, and it does have a very significant (and, as it transpires, titular) turtle storyline so if you happen to find those traumatic, even by mention, this might cause more strife than you were expecting. I enjoyed reading this short book about the life of Laura, a girl living on a desolate island in the early 20th century. Inspired by a true story about an elephant rescued from a Belfast zoo during WWII, acclaimed British author Morpurgo (War Horse) pens a historical novel about a German family's struggle to survive as Continue reading »

A story where they are just about to give up when they are reminded that good things come to those who wait. The time stamps as chapter names provides a reader with a sense of pace throughout the book. Forgotten the title or the author of a book? Our BookSleuth is specially designed for you. Visit BookSleuth

The Wreck of the Zanzibar by Michael Morpurgo | Goodreads The Wreck of the Zanzibar by Michael Morpurgo | Goodreads

Master storyteller Morpurgo imagines the ordeal of one of WWII’s grievously burned soldiers, narrated in a remarkably authentic voice by the man’s grandson, Michael. Michael’s mother tells him never Continue reading » I thought the opening was lovely and the chapters are brief with the first person narrative flitting between Michael and Laura. Elements of the story reminded me of Why the Whales Came which I thought to be far better. The hardship on the island deepens when a storm rips off roofs, smashes houses and drowns the few cows on which the islanders are dependent for their milk. Hope disappears. Even Laura's parents are estranged from each other because of Billy's departure.Another Robin Hood retelling? Why not, if it's created by the distinguished team that crafted Arthur, High King of Britain? Why not, if Morpurgo succeeds, as he does, in bringing together the Continue reading » Morpugo is such an atmospheric and prolific author, it feels mean to not enjoy his books, which is, perhaps, part of the problem I had with this. I always think I'll love the work, and then sometimes I simply don't. Perhaps with this it's because there really isn't much to tell in this story, and perhaps in itself, that is a good change to have. There's a lot to think about, for younger readers, and a lot of putting oneself in the central character's place - imagining a kind of desolation it's hard to conjure up in an increasingly globalised world. So, when the General Lee bound for New York calls at St Mary's for repairs to the mizzen mast Billy secures his passage as a cabin boy. He has left the islands before his parents know anything about it. Laura has lost her twin brother. She is devastated. Her parents are also devastated. They have lost their only son. And ill fortune besets the family. They lose their cows. It's a very bad time. Everyone is hungry and families start to drift away from Bryher. When Granny May had gone up to bed this evening Father said, 'It's like the beginning of the end. In a few years' time Bryher will be like Samson and Tean, abandoned and deserted, left to the rabbits and the birds.' He cried and I knew I didn't hate him any more, I knew I loved him still. Mother won't cry. I've never seen Mother cry. She put her arms around Father and held him, and that's the first time she's done that since Billy left. I loved the way in which Michael Morpurgo wrote the story, reading Laura's diary entries I felt that it was more personal and carried a lot more emotion. The story begins with Michael's great aunt Laura who has just passed away, who has left him her diaries for him to read. The diary is written over a year when Laura was 14 years old and documents her troubled family life that led to her twin brother running away to sea. This truly broke Laura's heart. The diary entries tells the story of this time for Laura and the events that led to Laura saving the day not just for her family but for everyone that lived on the the island of Bryher.