Private Peaceful

Private Peaceful is a poignant children’s novel that beautifully captures the realities of the First World War. The story is moving, vividly written, and offers a powerful perspective on courage, family, and sacrifice. A must-read for young readers and adults alike.

One of the most tragic events of the 20th century was the senseless slaughter and sacrifice of many young men on the battlefields of the Somme,Verdun and Passchendaele. The iconic 1914 recruitment poster of Lord Kitchener, wearing a cap of a British Field Marshall, stares and points at the viewer pleading to their sense of allegiance and responsibility by declaring..."Your country needs you" The specially constituted "pals battalions" resulted in friends, neighbours and colleagues enlisting together at local recruiting drives with the promise that they could serve alongside each other. However many of these battalions sustained heavy causalities and this had a significant impact on their communities at home. In the small Devon town of Hatherleigh lives young Tommo Peaceful with his brother Charlie and the girl they both adore, Molly. This is family life, village life, captured in the idyllic Devon countryside before the encroachment and black clouds of world war 1 destroys the dreams and aspirations of so many in pointless sacrifice ensuring that life would never be the same again....."We'd lie amongst the grass and buttercups of the water meadows and look up at the clouds scudding across the sky, at the wind-whipped crows chasing a mewing buzzard"....Tommo and Charlie are gripped in the romantic notion of helping to eradicate the threat of the Hun who were attempting to grow their military might and realize their imperialistic ambitions. So the two brothers and close friends from the village march blindly off to war where the initial patriotic enthusiasm dies tragically amidst pointless butchering when the reality of war is revealed...."I could no longer pretend to myself that I believed in a merciful god nor in a heaven, not anymore, not after I had seen what men could do to one another. I could believe only in the hell I was living in, a hell on earth and it was man-made, not God-made"......."the terror that is engulfing me and invading me, destroying any last glimmer of courage and composure I may have left. All I have left now is my fear".... Michael Morpurgo expertly portrays the senseless slaughter and sacrifice of world war 1 to a young impressionable adult audience. This is achieved by comparing the beauty and peacefulness of the English countryside with the shell ravaged mud filled trenches of France....this was the raw reality of war. Private Peaceful is a sombre novel to be read by young and old. It's simplistic language is very effective in creating an image of a time when the romantic notion of war quickly became a vision of hell and where the loss of millions was seen as an acceptable price for the march of imperialism and the misguided ambitions of WW1 military leaders. Highly Recommended.

It’s a good book but so expensive. A bit difficult for my 10 years old daughter .

Private Peaceful tells the fictional story of a young man, Tommo Peaceful, who becomes a soldier in the First World War. Unlike many other war stories, it delves into an aspect of war that is much less known about: the soldiers executed for desertion or cowardice. Inspired by the name on a gravestone in Ypres, this thought-provoking novel explores the injustices suffered by many soldiers and questions the notion of cowardice and heroism in warfare. Written from the perspective of Tommo Peaceful, the 18-year-old soldier narrates his account in a series of flashbacks over a 24 hour-period, as he reflects upon his life. The writer gradually pieces together the whole story, until the past catches up with the present in the penultimate chapter. The narrative begins in England during young Tommo's childhood years. The first half of the book focusses on family life in the countryside, from his first day at school to his first job as a farm boy. Events take a dramatic change when, at sixteen Tommo enlists and ''change[s] [his] world of home for [his] world of wars''. The young soldier is soon taken to the battlefields of Belgium, fighting alongside his protective elder brother and best friend, Charlie Peaceful, and experiencing the full brutality of warfare and life on the front line. This novel epitomises Michael Morpurgo's imaginative and skilful storytelling, which undoubtedly makes him one of Britain's best loved children's authors of today. The Postscript makes the reader aware that although this story is an invention, the predicament facing Tommo and his brother was very much a reality for many other soldiers fighting in the Great War. Like Michael Morpurgo's other war stories (such as War Horse, Farm Boy and The Butterfly Lion), Private Peaceful was conceived by his fascination with war and his desire to enable children to better understand it. In the light of the present war in Afghanistan and, as we approach the centenary of the First World War, Morpurgo's books are ever more relevant.

In Michael Morpurgo's war story you are transported to a pre-World War 1 England at the other end of the social classes to Downton Abbey. It concerns the Peaceful family of mother and the three boys and you learn of the father's death in the first chapter. It is a world of tied cottages, hunger, poaching, loyalty, family and also humour. It is divided into two sections. At the start of each chapter Tommo is talking about his memories, as he waits for a dawn he has no wish to see because of what it will bring. His childhood memories, antics with brother Charlie and friend Molly are gripping, but the contrast to the war years is very poignant. Trench warfare is shown as brutal and confusing, with characters making you proud or angry. It is no wonder that many schools have chosen to study this book and link it to WW1 studies. I have read it many times now, but the ending still makes me cry. Do not see the film until you have read the book. The film is not faithful and therefore becomes irritating despite having some fine actors. The book will make you laugh and cry, as well as transport you to a time that was harsh yet heart-warming.

I'm in bits now as I'm writing this. Private Peaceful was brilliant, frighteningly realistic and so incredibly moving. I must admit soldiers shot for "cowardice" isn't something I know much about but I feel so angry on their behalf. This book is a must read and that's all there is to it.

This amazing book arrived right on time. I can't speak highly enough about Michael Morpurgo's WWI story!

Los libros de este autor son geniales para los niños. Disfrutan mucho de su lectura. Para diversificar con Diary of a wimpy kid.

I bought this book - my first ebook - because my daughter presented it at her school. The first half of the of it was enjoyable because it reminded me of my own school days. The second half deals with the trenches in WWI and seems very realistic. This part is exciting even for an adult. The expressions, the simeles and the alliterations make this book good fun to read. In my opinion it deserves five stars. For a novice, the electronic version offers interesting functions such as search, marking, email and Google. I was given excellent support for installing the book on my iPad from RSA (Hasante sana qua watu ya Africa) after useless advice in Germany. J.K.

Nonostante sia una storia per bambini, narra le vicende in modo realistico e non ha paura di descrivere gli aspetti più crudi della guerra.

The first thing I’d like potential buyers to know is that the image does not do the tangible object justice. The book is hardcover, and feels like a soft canvas with stamped gold lettering. The artwork is just gorgeous, and commemorates these tragic events perfectly with Morpurgo’s writing. Having been a big fan of his throughout my childhood, I purchased this for my Aussie boyfriend because I couldn’t allow him to go through life without coming in contact with this book. We may be in our mid-late twenties, but it’s never too late to read this book. It is of course a bonus that it looks wonderful on a bookshelf.