Michael Morpurgo Books in Order

Prince Frederico and his bride begin married life happily, but the princess gradually loses her joy. As Christmas approaches, the prince searches for a story that can warm her heart and bring happiness back to their home.

A journalist visiting the Palestinian West Bank meets Said, a boy who has stopped speaking after his brother’s death. His kites cross the dividing wall, offering a connection between children whose lives have been marked by violence.

Aman and his mother find a starving springer spaniel while living in a cave in Afghanistan. Naming her Shadow, they form a bond that accompanies their dangerous journey toward safety and the possibility of a new home.

Written as a play, this work explores how childhood has changed across a thousand years. Children’s voices bring different periods into focus, inviting readers and listeners to consider the experiences of young people across history.

Charley and Alex know their mother’s treasured wooden dog, Little Manfred, but not the memories behind it. A meeting with two older men on a beach opens a story connected to the Second World War.

An orphan boy who walks with a crutch tells how rats overwhelm Hamelin and a mysterious piper offers to remove them. When the mayor breaks his promise of payment, the town faces the consequences of its dishonesty.

Michael knows little about his dead father, an RAF pilot, and his French mother avoids discussing the past. A photograph and a medal held by his aunt draw him toward secrets within his family’s wartime history.

Five Christmas tales bring together a wartime letter, a prince seeking happiness for his bride, a threatened goose, a shepherd’s angelic journey and a mountain dragon. The collection follows characters facing danger, loneliness and unexpected encounters.

Returning to his childhood village, a man remembers Mrs Pettigrew, who lived in a railway carriage among animals and marshland. Plans for a nuclear power station threatened her home and the landscape that shaped his early life.

A boy sheltering from a storm discovers a skull inside an old tree, opening a tale of Robin Hood. Robin joins a band of outcasts and takes up the struggle against the Sheriff of Nottingham.

Two animal stories follow a polar bear who wishes for the colors of a rainbow and an albatross chick left alone while its parents search for food. Their wishes and vulnerabilities bring unexpected dangers into view.

Pippa explores the countryside while staying with her aunt Peggy, recording what she sees in a notebook. Her walks are woven together with poems and illustrations, following the discoveries that a pair of wellies can make possible.

To save her father, Beauty agrees to live in the castle of a frightening Beast. As she comes to know her host, his appearance and behavior raise questions about fear, kindness and what makes someone worthy of love.

Two stories take readers to the Isles of Scilly: Laura records island life and a shipwreck in her diary, while two children befriend a mysterious man on Bryher. Sea journeys, rescue and an island’s feared curse shape their adventures.

Yannick leaves Paris to stay with his aunt in Provence, where she runs an inn. After an important visitor leaves a drawing, the boy makes a costly mistake and sets out to find a way to put it right.

Twenty-five short stories and twenty-five extracts from novels span Michael Morpurgo’s writing, grouped around war, animals, memory, the sea and folk tales. Illustrations accompany this selection of complete shorter works and passages from longer books.

Pinocchio tells his own story in this retelling of the wooden puppet’s adventures. Leaving his maker Geppetto, he encounters temptations and dangers, discovering how difficult it can be to make good choices and become a real boy.

Lisa and her cat Snug are inseparable, but as he grows he begins spending more time outside. When he returns injured and later disappears, Lisa must face the uncertainty of loving a pet with a life beyond her home.

These collected novels follow a horse sent to the Western Front and children whose lives are disrupted by the Second World War. Wartime dangers force them to confront fear, loyalty and the difficult boundaries between friends and enemies.

Chris, Lisa and Tom turn an old wartime pillbox into a secret hideout on a farmer's land. Their refuge becomes dangerous when local boys lock them inside, leaving them trapped far from anyone who might help.

Charlie proudly looks after Gertrude, a goose growing larger as Christmas approaches. When he realizes she is destined for the dinner table, his affection for her becomes a desperate wish to save the animal he has cared for.

A boy longs to fly, while a bird would rather settle down with a book. When they agree to exchange places, their wishes lead to unexpected difficulties and raise questions about who has gained the most.

Young Michael is frightened by his grandfather's wartime burns and forbidden to ask about them. As he grows older, their summer visits reveal the injured man's past and the pain that has kept the family apart.

In 1915, Alfie and his father discover an injured girl on an uninhabited Scilly island. She remembers almost nothing, and their efforts to help her meet growing hostility from neighbors who suspect she is a German spy.

Chris and Lisa's cousin arrives from the city with little understanding of farm life. Nicknamed Minikid, he brings trouble wherever he goes, and an encounter with a wasps' nest begins a succession of countryside mishaps.

Sheltering in a railway tunnel during an air attack in 1940, Barney hears a stranger's story about a First World War soldier. An act of mercy has haunted the soldier and driven him toward a dangerous attempt at redress.

During a Devon holiday, Clare finds relief from her parents' arguments through a friendship with elderly Thatcher Jones and his retired horse, Captain. Her father and aunt's objections threaten the companionship she has found in the countryside.

Mimi's Swiss village lives in fear of a dragon in the mountains above. When she discovers its lost baby in a woodshed, helping the frightened creature return home requires confronting the danger everyone around her dreads.

Two brothers discover their absent birth father in an unexpected place: on television, disguised as a polar bear. Their search to understand who he is leads them beyond the family story they have grown up believing.

This play follows a twelve-year-old girl whose Devon village is evacuated for American military preparations in 1944. With her beloved cat caught in the upheaval, she faces displacement and unexpected friendships amid the dangers surrounding D-Day rehearsals.

A boy visits a farm and develops a bond with a horse that helps him find his voice. Based on a real experience, the story explores how animal companionship can restore confidence to a child struggling to speak.

Peter ignores his grandfather's warnings and ventures outside alone, where the threat of a wolf turns curiosity into danger. This retelling of Prokofiev's tale follows a boy whose resourcefulness is tested beyond the safety of home.

Michael Morpurgo explains how more than twenty of his novels began, connecting memories, encounters and history with the stories they inspired. Extracts, photographs and illustrations accompany his reflections on turning lived experience into fiction.

A family of foxes longs for its struggling football team to start winning. When Daddy Fox discovers a king's ghost beneath a car park, an offer to grant their greatest wish presents an extraordinary bargain.

Cherry needs only a few more shells to finish the enormous necklace she has made during a seaside holiday. Her determination keeps her searching as a storm approaches, until rising waves cut her off from the shore.

Toads put up with losing every long-jump contest to the frogs, preferring a quiet life. When children and a dog arrive looking for good jumpers, the toads spot an opportunity to turn their rivals' talent against them.

Chosen by Michael Morpurgo, these seventeen animal tales bring together familiar fables and stories from around the world. Clever creatures, hungry predators and unlikely companions face conflicts that explore deception, resourcefulness and the consequences of their choices.

Jonah struggles with school bullies while caring for his mother, leaving little room for friends. A mysterious encounter connects him with an eighteenth-century foundling's story, revealing how music and an unexpected token can offer hope.

Toto recounts the adventure that carried him and Dorothy from Kansas to Oz. Traveling with a scarecrow, tin man and lion, they seek the wizard who might send them home, meeting dangers along the yellow brick road.

Two Mudpuddle Farm stories introduce a suspected Martian landing and a goat behaving strangely. Albertine the goose tries to unravel the apparent invasion, while the other animals puzzle over why grumbling Egbert has begun singing and dancing.

A lone robin travels toward home, driven by the need to rejoin his family for Christmas. Mountains, forests, snowstorms and an open sea stand between the small bird and the reunion he keeps struggling to reach.

In wartime Camargue, Lorenzo finds comfort in flamingos, familiar routines and Kezia's family carousel. German occupation threatens the animals and people he loves, testing the friendships that connect a boy who experiences the world differently.

Selected by Michael Morpurgo, these stories feature talking animals, fairies, sea creatures and small heroes facing extraordinary challenges. Familiar tales, including The Frog Prince and Jack and the Beanstalk, invite readers into adventures shaped by magic.

Two Mudpuddle Farm stories put the animals' ingenuity to the test. They must warn oblivious Farmer Rafferty about an approaching storm, then face the prospect of losing a new friend who does not belong on the farm.

Brothers Francis and Pieter respond differently to the approach of the Second World War: one rejects violence, while the other enlists. Their choices set Francis on a dangerous path in this account of Morpurgo's own uncles.

Morpurgo selects myths and legends about heroes, monsters, gods and magic, including Mulan, Icarus and Hercules. The retellings follow people confronting dangers and impossible tasks, with his version of Gawain and the Green Knight among the stories.

A battered military helmet leads young Michael to investigate his great-great-grandfather, killed at Ypres in 1915. Discovering Jacko's diary uncovers the person behind the forgotten relic and brings the effects of war into the family's present.

In war-torn Belgium, John McCrae writes the poem that will connect poppies with remembrance. A village girl preserves a discarded draft, linking an intimate wartime encounter to the words that later generations use to remember the dead.

James spends a snowy December day building a snowman, only to discover that his creation comes alive that night. Their journey into the sky brings friendship and an unexpected encounter in this retelling of Raymond Briggs's story.

Fleeing Afghanistan, Omar survives a shipwreck and washes ashore in Lilliput, where the inhabitants see him as a giant. Their kindness offers refuge, but threats to the island draw the displaced boy into another struggle for safety.

In wartime Camargue, Lorenzo finds comfort in flamingos, familiar routines and Kezia's family carousel. German occupation threatens the animals and people he loves, testing the friendships that connect a boy who experiences the world differently.

Labeled a bad lad at school, a boy turns to theft and ends up in borstal. A stable manager offers him responsibility for Suffolk Punch horses, giving him a chance to build a different future through work and trust.

Rescued from a shipwreck as a child, Allen later returns to the lighthouse keeper who saved him. Their friendship deepens as they care for an injured puffin, but the Second World War threatens to separate them again.

Nandi travels from Australia to her family’s home on Ithaca, where her beloved Auntie Ellie has disappeared. Searching for her, she uncovers a story of love and courage stretching back to the Second World War.

A farm visit brings unexpected adventures, from a fishing boat rescue to a discovery among the vegetables. Three stories explore children finding confidence and connection in the countryside, including a Ukrainian girl befriending a farm cat.

Princess Clara would rather climb trees and collect tiny creatures than obey the palace staff. When the supposed ogre hidden beneath her bed offers an unexpected escape, she must decide what she is willing to do.

Looking back over a life spent telling stories, Michael Morpurgo reflects on childhood, nature, aging, peace and war. Personal memories and political observations sit beside poems, fiction and a play in this varied collection.

A donkey helps a stranded turtle, a child writes about the animals at Wick Court, and friendship helps Lucky become a sheepdog. Three farm stories follow young visitors discovering the countryside through its creatures and daily routines.

On his Devon farm, Michael Morpurgo watches spring arrive through new lambs, woodland flowers and encounters with wildlife. Poems and memories of childhood accompany his observations, tracing the pleasures and renewal found in a familiar landscape.

Michael Morpurgo recalls moving with Clare and their children to a Devon farm, where family life, writing and a charitable project took root. Across five decades, they welcome city children while navigating the joys and difficulties of country life.