Friend Or Foe by Michael Morpurgo

The Dilemma

Friend Or Foe by Michael Morpurgo is a powerful children’s historical novel just perfect for ages eight and over.

The novel is set during World War II and follows two evacuees to the West Country. The boys find themselves on a farm. “They were no longer going away, they were arriving.” Life is all about perspective. The boys turned a negative into a positive.

The boys are brave. “He’d promised himself he’d be brave when he said goodbye.” Bravery is ‘doing it afraid.’

Within the novel there is a moral dilemma. The boys have a choice to do the right thing but the right thing is not always easy. It is not always a black and white issue but a murky grey one. They have to be guided by their conscience.

I absolutely love Michael Morpurgo’s novels. I am far older than the target audience (being in my fifties) but I thoroughly enjoy his tales and style of writing. He draws the reader into his tales and we ‘live’ through the books as we read.

War is a dreadful affair, fought by young men on all sides as this powerful quote, which I shall leave you with, illustrates:

“There was nothing threatening… about them…just two exhausted, pale-looking men with sad eyes and kind faces. They were the faces he should hate.”

JULIA WILSON

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