Alone on a Wide Wide Sea
by Michael Morpurgo
Arthur Hobhouse's story is a remarkable one. Orphaned and shipped to Australia, he first works on a cruelly-run sheep station, escapes to the contrasting kindness of another farm, then begins a boat-building apprenticeship and a lasting love of the sea. Finally, following desperate mental illness, he finds happiness with a wife and daughter before an early death.
Daughter Allie is determined to complete his story, undertaking a perilous solo sailing voyage to England in the yacht they built together, seeking Arthur's long-lost sister Kitty.
Filled with vividly beautiful descriptions of land and seascapes, this roller-coaster novel is swept along using simple, powerful language, exploring the importance of story in forming the self and also quietly mapping the changing nature of childhood through time.
Publisher: HarperCollins Children's Books
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Michael Morpurgo
Children's Laureate 2003-2005
Award-winning children's writer Michael Morpurgo was born in 1943 in St Albans, Hertfordshire. He is the author of many award-winning books for children, including Kensuke's Kingdom, My Friend Walter and Private Peaceful. Many of his books have been successfully adapted for the stage or for film and television including War Horse and Private Peaceful (due to be released in 2012)
As well as writing, Michael runs the charity Farms for City Children with his wife Claire. In 2003 he became the third Children's Laureate (2003-2005), taking on a role he helped to establish together with the late Poet Laureate Ted Hughes. During his time as laureate he toured extensively, concentrating on sharing the power of stories.
(Credit Richard Cannon)
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Reading Age: 10+
Interest level: 10+
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