In the same way that there are horse whisperers, I am increasingly coming to believe that Morpurgo is a child whisperer. I only wish that I had had access to Morpurgo when I was younger as whilst I absolutely love his writing, I feel like I miss out because really he is not speaking to me, he is speaking to people less than half my age. Most importantly, he always succeeds. ‘Private Peaceful’ is probably one of his most successful novels and for good reason! It tells the story of Tommo and Charlie Peaceful – two brothers who together with their mother, disabled brother, Joe, and friend Molly are simply learning to survive and negotiate growing up in their rural community following the tragic death of their father. Whilst their lives are harsh – food is often short and they frequently have to face the tyrannical wrath of the Colonel, who owns the estate on which they live, they are essentially carefree and happy. Naturally, this all changes when war is declared and the brothers are compelled, both literally by the Colonel and due to social pressure, to enlist (in Tommo’s case despite being only 15). What follows is deeply moving and tragic and I defy anyone not to shed a little tear or two at some point in this novel.

What Morpurgo does so deftly is to create a realistic and often emotive presentation of the war without recourse to grotesque detail or sensationalism. Rather the focus is very much on the human aspect. In fact, nearly half the novel is dedicated to the lives of the Peaceful’s before the war even begins. This alone was quite mesmerising in his depiction of a pre-war England that is so distant and different from our own contemporary society in both its education and rural nature. What is most striking though, is the way Morpurgo forces us to care about his characters, to become deeply embroiled in their lives and desperately desire their success. His often very simple writing is accessible and yet also heart wrenching.

In actual fact, I have read this novel twice this year (it is only short – about 183 pages). The first time for myself and the second time with a bottom set Year 9 class (a boy dominated group who, if asked, would undoubtedly say they did not like or ‘do’ reading). We read ‘Private Peaceful’ for 10-15 minutes at the start of every lesson for about 8 weeks and it had them utterly absorbed. I actually had to make sure I went round and collected the books once I had finished reading so that they got on with the main part of the lesson (where we were exploring war literature and media) or they would try to secretly keep reading the novel under the table. I think this probably says it all. ‘Private Peaceful’ was evidently a revelation to them and they actually looked forward to coming to the lesson to find out what was happening to Charlie and Tommo. This week, we started a new book and I had chosen another Morpurgo for them and the first thing several of them said was ‘Yeah – this is by the ‘Private Peaceful’ man.’ Morpurgo has clearly found some fans!

So why only four stars? Well, as an adult reader who has read novels such as Sassoon’s memoirs and taught Faulks’ ‘Birdsong’ several times to A Level classes, I am also aware that there is an element of romanticism in the portrayal. The language is very simplistic and I can see where the story is going so there is no element of surprise for me as an experienced reader. However, Morpurgo, quite rightly, is not writing for me. He is utterly in tune with his child readership and if I were 12, I would undoubtedly be giving this about 25 out of 5!