Why the Whales Came by Michael Morpurgo is set in the Scilly Isles in 1914 . . .
Gracie and her friend Daniel have always been warned to stay away from the Birdman and his side of the island. But then they find a message in the sand and discover the Birdman is not who they thought. They build up a friendship with him, but when the children get stranded on Samson Island they don’t know whether to believe the Birdman’s story that the island is cursed.
Reviewed by Maggie Fergusson in Slightly Foxed Issue 60.
A Modern Pied Piper
MAGGIE FERGUSSON
For generations of children, Michael Morpurgo has been a kind of Pied Piper. No one is sure exactly how many books he’s written, but there are over 150 of them, and they are said to have sold, in total, more than 35 million copies. Many have become classics – Private Peaceful, which follows a First World War soldier through the last night of his life before he is executed for cowardice; Kensuke’s Kingdom, the story of a small boy washed up on an island in the Pacific; Why the Whales Came, set in the Scilly Isles in 1914.
Extract from Slightly Foxed Issue 60, Winter 2018
A Modern Pied Piper
For generations of children, Michael Morpurgo has been a kind of Pied Piper. No one is sure exactly how many books he’s written, but there are over 150 of them, and they are said to have sold, in...
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