Experiencing the war

from a different perspective

Lisanne Huuskes Ta3b

The title fits the story really good because Joey is at first a horse which is working on a farm
but later on when the war is declared, he is going to work for the army so that’s why the title
matches very good with the story. The book is written by Michael Morpurgo, he wrote more
books almost all of them are about animals. Albert is one of the main characters, his father
owns Joey and Albert takes good care of him. Albert is a fourteen year old boy and is always
friendly and happy. He and Joey became really good friends that’s why he also wanted to
join the army but he is to young. Another character is of course Joey, Joey is a very strong
horse his best friend is Albert. Joey is doing whatever Albert asks for. Zoey is Joey’s stable
mate, she is older and has been on the farm for a longer time. Topthorn is a black horse
which is also participating the war, Emilie is the girl who takes care of the two horses during
the war.

It all begins at an auction where Joey is separated from his mom, the father of Joey takes
him home to the farm. Albert is the most happiest person in the world because he can take
care of his own horse. A few days later father has a new bet, Joey needs to plow the field in a
few days’ time if that’s possible he wins and Albert can keep Joey. Albert worked really hard
to get Joey plow the field and that’s also what happened, he worked all night long and the
field was plowed. The war was declared between England and Germany so father came
home with the big news, we are going to war! On a early morning father walked Joey to the
center of the village, father sold Joey to the army. Albert does not want this and wants to
join the army by himself. Time past by and Joey came into no man’s land, he was stuck in
iron wire and the soldiers helped him. The British soldier took him with him to the medical
department. That’s were Albert was too at that moment he was needed to clean the horse
because he was covered with mud. At first Albert did not know it was Joey but when he was
washed he saw it, they were reunited. The war is over and the horses need to be sold again,
the father of Emilie bought Joey and gave it to Albert. Albert is marrying a girl who he med in
the war and that’s the end!

What I really love about the book is that it has a happy ending because most books that have
something to do with war always end bad and sad. To me, it seemed confusing that the book
is written from the horse view because you often forget that the horse is living through the
story. That’s also something that is weak about the book because it does not strongly
indicate that it’s from a horse. The book is well written and the language is not too hard, I
like that because then it’s easier to read and understand what is happening.
It was a good and interesting book, I would recommend this book especially to teenagers
because the book is not hard to read, it’ also not too sad so children. You get a really good
idea how they lived at that time and it’s also strange (in a positive way) to read something
that is not from a humans perspective but from Joey.