War Horse is a children's novel set in Wartime Europe; the narrative concerns events from before the declaration of World War I to shortly after the Germans surrendered to the Allies. The narrator of the novel is a horse called Joey, a cavalry horse who begins his story as a foal growing up on a farm and becomes caught up in the War, going to France with the English Army before being captured by the Germans. The Germans then put Joey to work, first pulling the ambulance cart that transported the wounded and later pulling an artillery gun.
The novel carefully documents the reality of the battles in France, with frightening gun positions dug deep into trenches and open spaces of muddy ground bordered on all sides by barbed wire. This latter is the No Man's Land between the British and German armies where much of the fighting took place. The novel describes the harsh terrain, treacherous weather, and the devastating casualties of war. Our narrator, Joey, has an eye-witness account to share with the reader; his unique perspective provides a thought-provoking observational study of the futility and terror of World War I.
Joey is first introduced to us as a foal who lives in the South West of England, in the county of Dorset. Dorset is the neighboring county to Devon, where War Horse author Michael Morpurgo lives. Much of the area's wartime history and its countryside character are well known to him as a local. Morpurgo is an equine advocate and founded a charity enabling inner-city children to experience living and working on a farm in the heart of the countryside. This passion for the traditions of farming inspired many of the settings in the novel. In terms of his writing career, Morpurgo is a former Children's Laureate, the highest honor a children's author can receive in Great Britain.
War Horse is widely considered to be a modern children's classic and has been made into both a movie and a stage play.
