An opportunity presents itself and Billy takes it. He leaves Bryher without saying goodbye to his family. Mother is heartbroken and retreats into her shell. The rest of the family, devastated, find their own ways of dealing with this grief. More misfortune strikes as a storm wipes out the cattle, the hens and ruins their houses. Things go from bad to worse before they start getting better towards the end. When it comes to a choice between the rough, unrelenting work under his father's stern eye and the promise of adventure held out by Joseph Hannibal, a sea-faring visitor, there's no contest. Billy leaves in secret on the General Lee. Another lovely read from the fantastic Michael Morpurgo. I didn't enjoy this book as much as some of his others (Kensuke's Kingdom, Billy the Kid), but it was a nice young person's fiction to whiz through in-between some larger reads.

I thought the opening was lovely and the chapters are brief with the first person narrative flitting between Michael and Laura. Elements of the story reminded me of Why the Whales Came which I thought to be far better.Written as a diary entry - I like the idea of doing up the classroom like a set from the book and using maps to find out where the Scilly Isles are and what they look like. I loved the way in which Michael Morpurgo wrote the story, reading Laura's diary entries I felt that it was more personal and carried a lot more emotion. The story begins with Michael's great aunt Laura who has just passed away, who has left him her diaries for him to read. The diary is written over a year when Laura was 14 years old and documents her troubled family life that led to her twin brother running away to sea. This truly broke Laura's heart. The diary entries tells the story of this time for Laura and the events that led to Laura saving the day not just for her family but for everyone that lived on the the island of Bryher. The book is written in the form of a diary. The entries are shorted on days of turmoil and frustration. The entries are longer when something remarkable has happened. The hardship on the island deepens when a storm rips off roofs, smashes houses and drowns the few cows on which the islanders are dependent for their milk. Hope disappears. Even Laura's parents are estranged from each other because of Billy's departure. This engrossing book by Michael Morpurgo has a poignant storyline about a close-knit family living on the island of Bryher in the Isles of Scilly. Although the story has a lot of sadness and hardship, it ends on a happy note. The story revolves around the lives of its main characters - Father, Mother, their children Billy and Laura and Granny May.

This article about a children's historical novel of the 1990s is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. Michael's books have been translated into many languages including Chinese, Bulgarian and Hungarian, Hebrew and Japanese. He travels all over the UK and abroad talking to people of all ages at literary festivals, telling his stories and encouraging them to tell theirs. Laura Perryman’s family has always lived on Bryher. But the tough lifestyle is about to get tougher… My only criticism of the book is that there is a little too much misery and sadness in the book which continues nearly till the end and can sometimes make the reading very depressing. However, the author keeps the characters very real and as a reader, I felt very involved in their lives. I would give it an 8/10 and would recommend it to those who enjoy realistic stories. I enjoyed reading this short book about the life of Laura, a girl living on a desolate island in the early 20th century.

Life on the island isn't easy, and this is repeatedly made clear throughout the book. The people of the island are constantly threatened by the forces of nature, wind and sea. LoveReading4Kids exists because books change lives, and buying books through LoveReading4Kids means you get to change the lives of future generations, with 25% of the cover price donated to schools in need. Join our community to get personalised book suggestions, extracts straight to your inbox, 10% off RRPs, and to change children’s lives.

The island of Bryher is bleak and barren. Laura's father, a harsh and taciturn man, has turned his son Billy against island life with his incessant demands. Billy wants to see the world outside. Laura just wants to crew the island gig but her father is adamant in his refusal. No girl on any of the Scilly Isles has been an oarsman on a gig and no daughter of his is going to be the first.For more information about the work of Farms for City Children, please visit www.farmsforcitychildren.org A miracle is needed to save the island, to save granny and to save the marriage of Laura's parents. In November 2016 Michael Morpurgo won the J M Barrie Award for his contribution to children’s literature.This award is given every year by Action for Children’s Arts to a “children’s arts practitioner” whose lifetime’s work has delighted children and will stand the test of time.

David Wood, chair of Action for Children’s Arts, said Morpurgo is “one of our greatest storytellers”. Hello Yellow - 80 Books to Help Children Nurture Good Mental Health and Support With Anxiety and Wellbeing - Laura Perryman’s family has always lived on the tiny island of Bryher. She lives with her twin brother, Billy, her mother and father, and her Granny May. They have four milking cows,enough to keep the entire population of the island supplied with milk, and the islanders feed themselves from the sea. It is a hard life, and Billy, fourteen years old and bored with the unending milking routine, is feeling the strain. Lots of people may think that this book is too depressing for children so young but I felt reading it as a child I was able to relate to elements of the book, as they weren't to different from experience I was dealing with at the time. This book can be quiet dark and depressing at time but like in life if you continue to persevere and try your hardest things will get better. I'm usually fine with not a lot happening in a story but this didn't work for me when I read it. On saying this, discussing Billy's adventures would be exciting for children and perhaps the simple and rather dull aspect of life on the Scilly Isles at the turn of the 20th century was a true reflection. I liked the idea that the story closes with Michael, just as it opened with him. Morpurgo does this A LOT - a story within a story.

About Michael Morpurgo

Morpugo is such an atmospheric and prolific author, it feels mean to not enjoy his books, which is, perhaps, part of the problem I had with this. I always think I'll love the work, and then sometimes I simply don't. Perhaps with this it's because there really isn't much to tell in this story, and perhaps in itself, that is a good change to have. There's a lot to think about, for younger readers, and a lot of putting oneself in the central character's place - imagining a kind of desolation it's hard to conjure up in an increasingly globalised world. Morpurgo added: “Storymakers and storytellers like Barrie, and like all the previous winners of this award, have given us the hope and faith children need, we need, to keep flying, have sustained us through dark and troubled times, have banished doubt. To touch the lives of children, to witness their listening and reading silence, is reward enough in itself. This is simply the icing on the cake.” Buy from our bookstore and 25% of the cover price will be given to a school of your choice to buy more books. *15% of eBooks. Home >