War Horse by Michael Morpurgo

Title: War Horse
Author: Michael Morpurgo
Series: War Horse #1
Genre: YA/Middle Grade
Release Date: April 1, 2007
Format: Nook Lend Me book from my grandma

Rating:  Wait until Payday

Synopsis:

A powerful tale of war, redemption, and a hero's journey.In 1914, Joey, a beautiful bay-red foal with a distinctive cross on his nose, is sold to the army and thrust into the midst of the war on the Western Front. With his officer, he charges toward the enemy, witnessing the horror of the battles in France. But even in the desolation of the trenches, Joey's courage touches the soldiers around him and he is able to find warmth and hope. But his heart aches for Albert, the farmer's son he left behind. Will he ever see his true master again?

Review:

I was going through the "lend me" libraries of my Nook friends and I found this book in my grandma's library.  When we were up at her house for Christmas I saw the trailer for the movie and it looked really interesting.  So when I found this book I sent a request to borrow it from her.

Honestly, I was worried about this book being a major tear jerker.  It has some pretty sad moments in it but I am proud to say that no Kleenex were harmed during the reading of this book.  Now from what I hear of the movie, plenty of Kleenex will be harmed during the viewing of this movie.  This book is also a really quick read too.

What I really liked about the book was that it was told from the point of view of Joey, the horse.  I haven't read many books where an animal is the voice of the book.  So this was a pleasant surprise for me.  Joey comes to live on the farm with Albert (his human) and his family.  Joey and Albert become inseparable and then the war breaks out.

Albert's father was probably my absolute least favorite character in the whole book.  He was abusive, a drunk and a liar.  Even though he was pretty bad and did some pretty despicable things he did put his family first, even if that meant lying and selling Joey to the war effort.

We read about WWI through Joey's eyes.  It's a little startling at times but this book was still a very good read.  There were points in which I felt too much information was given which ended up being the only negative that I could come up with for the book. Because I don't want to give away the whole book I'm going to stop right here.  Your just going to have to read it in order to find out what happens.