Morpurgo and More (part 1)

SINGING FOR MRS PETTIGREW
Written by Michael Morpurgo.
Illustrated by Peter Bailey.
Published byWalker Books.
ISBN 978-1-4063-0574-6.
Ages are not specified, but at a guess the stories could be read and appreciated by 10+

Image: Courtesy Amazon.

The book is a collection of eleven of his stories, in different moulds. We also have ten essays from Morpurgo about his storytelling. These speak about his experiences, and the germ of an idea that they provide for his stories. No less enjoyable than any of his stories.

This post will deal with the 11 stories, most of them on the backdrop of war, esp. WW2. There will have to be a second post on his 10 essays, which speak a lot to any reader and writer.

Meeting Cezanne

A boy, Yannick, staying for a while with his relatives who own a village inn in Provence has been told that the famous painter Cezanne had painted many of his landscapes at a place near their house. He helps at the inn, and his job is to clear the table and get rid of the paper tablecloth by putting it into the fireplace after a guest has left. One day, he does just that and and is at the receiving end of his pretty young cousin's aire. Reason: the guest was a famous painter who doodles a painting on the tablecloth if he is happy with his meal. And now the masterpiece has been destroyed. So how does Yannick make amends? And is the painter Cezanne or someone else?

The Giant's Necklace

Cherry, an 11yr old girl, is at the seaside with her family. She makes a necklace of 'glistening pink cowrie shells,' and on their last day there, it is a few inches short of what she had decided on. Her family leave her at the beach with the promise that she would hurry up and come back with the shells before dark. The day starts as a fine one, but it soon becomes stormy, and the tide comes in great waves and cuts her off. She tries to get back with her shells, but gets swept away by the waves. Resurfacing, she realises that she needs to climb the cliff and follows the source of a beam of light. She comes upon a pair of miners, father and son, who claim they are working a tin mine, and who help her. "But I thought the mine was closed a hundred years ago," she said nervously. "That's what I was told, anyway."  Who are they? What has happenned?

A read this story and was quite upset. She didn't want to read any more. Until we had a talk about what makes a good story. How the fact that the story disturbed her was a pointer towards the success of the narrative. I convinced her to read the next story in the book, and that one won her over.

I believe in Unicorns

Set during WW2, this is a story of Tomas, a 7yr old, who is taught the importance of books by a librarian who tells them stories sitting astride a life-like model of a unicorn. She tells them of a book which her father saved from being burnt by "wicked people in my town who were frightened of the magic of stories and of the power of books, because stories make you think and dream; books make you want to ask questions." One day the library gets bombed. How the books are saved makes up the rest of the story.

My one and only great escape

This one is reminiscent of school stories like 'Tom Brown's Schooldays'. Our protagonist, Morpurgo himself as a child (Pongo to his classmates) doesn't want to return to boarding school after the vacations. When he does, he runs away from school. He is picked up, soaking wet in the rain, by a "silver-haired old lady in a little black car."  Who tells him about her husband, who had been killed in the war, and who had told her that he and his friends were often scared.

"So I asked him...why he didn't just run away. And he said: 'Because of my pals. We're in this together. We look after each other.' You've got pals, haven't you, dear?"
"Yes," I replied, "but they like coming back to school. They love it."
"I wonder if they really do," she said. "Maybe they just pretend better than you."

For all those who have back-to-school-blues or even back-to-work-blues!

My father is a polar bear

This is a story about two boys, brothers, and their search for their biological father who has disappeared from their lives after their mother re-marries. She does not like to speak of him and so he is persona non grata. He is an actor, and the boys use this fact to find him. So now they have two fathers. The one they call 'father' all their lives, and the one who is (has acted as) a polar bear. A heart-warming story.

The silver swan

This one reads like a parable, and in some ways, I think it is. It is a story of a silver swan told in the words of our protagonist. The swan meets a mate, the cob, and together they build a nest and have five cygnets. There is also a family of foxes nearby. In the winter, food is scarce, and the mother fox attacks the silver swan to feed her cubs. The cob tries to save her but fails. He is despondent, but brings up the cygnets on his own. One day, they fly away, and he is left alone. He stays in the place where his swan had been killed, almost losing the will to continue living. What happens next? Read to find out.

The Mozart Question

This story has been reviewed beautifully by Choxbox on Saffrontree. I don't think I will be able to add anything to it. Except for saying this: it moved me profoundly. I am, by my own admission, a sucker for any stories written on the background of the Holocaust. Strongly recommended.

What does it feel like

Sofia is a child living in Bosnia during its war. The story begins with an ordinary school day, which takes a horrifying turn when soldiers on tankers attack, and Sofia, hidden inside the toilet of a restaurant, watches from its window in horrified silence as the village is demolished and burnt around her, her mother and grandmother taken away with other villagers as captives. Sofia is saved by a good samaritan who realises she is inside, but loses her sanity, shell-shocked. Parental discretion recommended for this one.

Half a man

The story is about the morbid fascination a boy has for his grandfather who was badly burnt in the war, but who has survived to tell the tale. This grandfather's face has become a mask from which everyone, including his own daughter, the boy's mother, avert their eyes. Then one day the boy goes for a visit to the island where his grandfather lives. What happens next? Does the boy's curiosity about the grandfather's story get satisfied? Does he continue to be afraid of his grandfather's twisted face? Does the grandfather make his peace with it? Read to find out.

For Carlos, a letter from your father

Carlos has lost his father to the war when he was an infant. On his 10th birthday, his mother gives him a letter written by his father on the evening before he was killed, to be given to him when he was ten, old enough to understand what he wrote. And he wrote about his going to the war, the deprivations, the fear and the terrible things that happen. How the common man everywhere wishes only for a peaceful existence, and how war negates all that.

"I did not hate those I have killed and those who try to kill me do not hate me either. We are like puppets doing a dance of death, our masters pulling the strings,....War, Carlos, has only one result: suffering." 

Reminds me of another short story on the same premise, again by Morpurgo himself, The best Christmas present in the world. You can read the whole story here.

Singing for Mrs Pettigrew

Mrs Pettigrew is an old widow who reads a lot, and lives in a railway carriage next to a marsh. The surroundings are wild, very beautiful with a lot of birds and wildlife around. Michael, our young protagonist and his mother befriend her. Then the marsh is taken over by a company that wants to set up a power station on it. The villagers, lead by Mrs Pettigrew fight against the proposed monstrosity, but lose. Mrs Pettigrew, heartbroken moved away to live with her sister, and soon after, died. The story is narrated by Michael, now grown-up, who visits the village, which has changed and become unrecognisable after the onslaught of 'technology.' A sad story, well told.

And more: Found this site  which self-proclaims to be for serious readers of the Harry Potter books and also has a whole lot of related stuff. I feel it is for all die-hard Pottermaniacs (yours truly included) who have read and re-read and re-re-read the books. It is not just a fan site. Check it out, all you out there having Potter withdrawl.

And yay! Choxbox is back!