Not Bad for a Bad Lad

by Michael Morpurgo, Michael Foreman (Illustrator)

Overview

"I know a good sort when I see one. That's why I've taken him on. That's why I took you on."

When a young lad strays into bad behavior and thieving, he soon finds himself in Borstal prison for young men, lonely and without hope. But when Mr. Alfie, who manages the stables, asks him to care for and tame a damaged horse, both are given a second chance. Could this "bad lad's" skill with horses help him follow his dreams?

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781848124714
Publisher:	Bonnier Publishing Fiction
Publication date:	05/01/2016
Pages:	128
Sales rank:	864,971
Product dimensions:	5.00(w) x 7.70(h) x 0.40(d)
Age Range:	7 - 9 Years

About the Author

Michael Morpurgo is an award-winning writer and former children's laureate best known for his novel War Horse. Michael Foreman is a Kate Greenaway Medal-shortlisted author.

Editorial Reviews

"Evocative watercolours and line drawings . . . the message is that youngsters need to feel good about themselves."  —Sunday Times

"A classic collaboration and a tale of redemption."  —Bookseller

"This is a beautiful book, from cover to cover, and a beautiful story too."  —Armadillo Magazine

"Morpurgo's gently elegant prose makes this slim story flow effortlessly." --Kirkus, Online: 4/13/2016 and Print: 5/1/2016

"A gifted storyteller, Morpurgo writes with sensitivty and conviction."--Booklist, 6/1/2016

From the Publisher

07/01/2016
Gr 4–6—The author of War Horse offers another work about the healing power of horses. A boy, named to readers only as a "bad lad," is sent to Borstal, a youth detention center, after a young life of truancy and crime in postwar England. The boy begins working at the local stables and discovers a love of horses, along with insight into navigating human relationships. Caring adults who mentor his talents help him become more than a "bad lad," and the book ends triumphantly with the boy becoming a drum major in the royal cavalry regiment. This is a short, simple tale, with a conversational, informal tone. There are plentiful illustrations of a variety of sizes. They depict the action in a whimsical cartoon style, given some poignancy with gentle watercolors. Despite the minimal text and abundant illustrations, the content may be too sophisticated for younger readers. The protagonist is a teenager, and the text contains a few unexplained Briticisms and historical references, along with instances of corporal punishment. The volume concludes with historical notes about the history of Borstals, the Suffolk Punch horse breed, and horses in the military, as well as photographs. VERDICT The large number of illustrations make this powerful story a high-interest and accessible option for upper-middle grade readers.—Lisa Goldstein, Brooklyn Public Library

School Library Journal

2016-04-13
A "bad lad" combines a passion for horses and music and makes good.An unnamed protagonist tells his early life story in retrospect for his grandchildren. Born at the end of World War II, never knowing his father, a young boy "no good at anything the teachers wanted me to be good at" learns to play drums under the eye of his only kind teacher. Nevertheless, he falls into worse and worse company, until he becomes a petty thief and then, by age 16, a serious one. Eventually caught, he's sent for a year to a Borstal, a British prison designed to rehabilitate young offenders. He's attracted to the prison's horse farm mostly because the head man plays radio music there, but he soon learns to love the horses, too, particularly an abused young horse named Dombey, with whom he forms a bond. In short order Dombey is sold, the boy's mentor disappears, and the boy is discharged onto the street, where he eventually becomes a soldier and reunites with Dombey. Morpurgo's gently elegant prose makes this slim story flow effortlessly, but there's not much action, and the narrative structure creates a storytelling effect that puts readers at a remove. It reads more like a short story than a novel, even when embellished by Foreman's ink-and-wash illustrations and a 10-page afterward describing the Borstal system and Suffolk Punch horses.A smooth story for horse-mad readers, but it's unlikely to find a much larger audience than that. (Historical fiction. 10-12)

Kirkus Reviews

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