Michael Morpurgo author page

Michael Morpurgo biography

Michael Morpurgo is a British children’s author who was born in St Albans in 1943 and published his first book in 1975. He worked as a teacher for ten years before leaving teaching to help set up Farms for City Children, a charity that gives children from urban areas time working on farms in the countryside. He has written more than 150 books, including War Horse, and his work includes novels, picture books, retellings and translations for young readers.

Morpurgo was Children’s Laureate from 2003 to 2005, after helping to create the role with the poet Ted Hughes. His books have won the Whitbread Award, the Smarties Book Prize, the Children’s Book Award and the Blue Peter Book Award. The Wreck of the Zanzibar won the Whitbread Children’s Book Award in 1995, The Butterfly Lion won the Nestlé Smarties Book Prize Gold Award in 1996, and Kensuke’s Kingdom won the Children’s Book Award in 2000. Private Peaceful was shortlisted for the Whitbread Children’s Book Award and the Carnegie Medal in 2004.

War Horse was adapted for the stage by the National Theatre and for film. Morpurgo was awarded an OBE in 2006 and a knighthood in the 2017 New Year Honours for services to literature and charity. Recent books for classroom and home reading include The Puffin Keeper, illustrated by Benji Davies and published by Puffin in 2020, and The Snowman: A full-colour retelling of the classic, illustrated by Robin Shaw and published by Puffin on 11 November 2021.

Michael Morpurgo

• Author website

Books by Michael Morpurgo

Books for KS1 children aged 5-7

• Grandpa Christmas
• The Little Prince: A new translation
• The Snowman: Inspired by the original story by Raymond Briggs

Books for KS2 children aged 7-11

• Friend or Foe
• Kaspar: Prince of Cats
• Alone on a Wide Wide Sea
• I Believe in Unicorns
• The Butterfly Lion
• Kensuke’s Kingdom
• Running Wild
• An Elephant in the Garden
• The Amazing Story of Adolphus Tips
• Why the Whales Came

Books for KS3 children aged 11-14

• An Eagle in the Snow
• Private Peaceful
• Flamingo Boy
• Listen to the Moon
• War Horse
• Beowulf

Michael Morpurgo teaching resources

• Michael Morpurgo’s official website provides author information, book pages, news, events and a dedicated resources section for classroom materials linked to his children’s books.
• Michael Morpurgo’s official resources page links to downloadable teaching resources for titles including Cobweb, The Birthday Duck, Boy Giant, Private Peaceful, Born to Run, Running Wild, Kensuke’s Kingdom and Farm Boy.
• Collins’ Michael Morpurgo author spotlight includes a Key Stage 2 virtual visit catch-up, Michael Morpurgo’s five writing tips, a Cobweb extract, and classroom activities for Cobweb, Private Peaceful, Flamingo Boy and Little Manfred.
• Authorfy’s Michael Morpurgo masterclass page provides videos on writing, character, inspiration and creative-writing challenges, plus downloadable resources and extracts for Kensuke’s Kingdom, War Horse and Flamingo Boy, with stated age guidance from 8+ to 10+.
• Puffin Schools’ The Puffin Keeper resource pack provides a KS2 downloadable pack with four extracts, teacher notes, discussion activities and cross-curricular tasks for English, PSHE, Citizenship, Art, Design & Technology and creative writing.
• Scottish Book Trust’s How to write a comic book scene PDF is a 23-page resource for ages 12-16 using Private Peaceful as an example text, with activities on comic adaptation, narrative boxes, speech bubbles, setting, character drawing, script writing and worksheets.

If you like Michael Morpurgo, why not try:

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• Tom Palmer
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