Michael Morpurgo: The Best Christmas Present in the world
This is a a beautifully presented book for children, illustrated by Michael Forman.
It’s about a man finding an envelope in a small black tin box in a hidden drawer in a roll top desk he has bought from a junk shop. Taped to the top of the envelope was a piece of lined notepaper and written on it in shaky handwriting is : ‘Jim’s last letter, received 25th January 1915. To be buried with me when the time comes’.
The envelope contains a letter from the front written by a soldier on December 26th 1914. In the letter to his wife Connie, JIm, the soldier describes the amazing and heart-warming incident when the Germans and the English lay down their arms for a Christmas truce.
Both sides came out of the trenches to share sausage and schnapps and rum and rations, then played a game of football before returning to their trenches again.
It’s a very moving story with a sweet ending.
Ro Bennett
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment