Toro! Toro! - Softcover

Michael Morpurgo

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0007107188 ISBN 13: 9780007107186

Publisher: HarperCollinsChildren'sBooks, 2007

Synopsis

Best-selling author Michael Morpurgo turns his storytelling skills to the drama and tragedy of the Spanish Civil War, illustrated by Michael Foreman.

TORO,TORO is the story of a young boy growing up in Andalucia, Spain, on a farm rearing bulls for the bull ring. Antonito hand rears a little black calf and they become firm friends, but the boy doesn't yet understand the fate of the black bulls the corrida and death. Later, when he learns of the horrors of the bull fight, he frees Paco, the black bull, and rides with him into the hills.There they witness the bombing of their village (it's the year 1936, and the Spanish Civil War has started) and Antonito cannot go back his family and the farm are destroyed, and Paco has run off, wild with fright. He decides to stay in the hills, where he meets up with the Resistance fighters. During the War, Antonito hears stories round the campfire of the wonderful black bull, who becomes a symbol of freedom for them all. Could this really be Paco? But no-one has ever seen him. After the war, when Antonito is working as a muleteer in the mountains, he falls asleep and dreams of Paco. In the morning, he wakes to see hoof prints on the ground beside him...

A delightful story, full of nostalgia and drama in the author's own inimitable style. Illustrated by Michael Foreman.

About this title

Review:

“A tale about another country and another time that resonates with the here and now... Once again, Morpurgo demonstrates his talent for stories of absolute clarity about big events”
Sunday Times

“A poignant tale, simply told, about the horror of the Spanish Civil War and the noble cruelty of bullfighting.”
Sunday Telegraph

“In Toro! Toro! Michael Morpurgo unpicks the problem of taking sides, of how enemies can be good, of guilty secrets kept for years... A compact, horrifying and compelling story”
The Times

“A beautifully, directly and convincingly told story: typical Morpurgo. Michael Foreman’s illustrations are exactly right and the whole is a very fine, thoroughly recommended, production.”
School Librarian

From the Back Cover:

I didn't tell Paco what I'd seen that day - I didn't ever want him to know.
"I'll take you away so you can live wild up in the hills, where you'll be safe for ever and ever. I'll work something out, I promise you."

Antonito lives an idyllic life on his parents' bull farm in Spain. But the idyll is shattered when he realizes that his calf, Paco, is destined for the bullring. What can he do? He has a daring plan, but it will take enormous courage to see it through - because it is 1936, and the drums of war are echoing across the Spanish plains.

About this edition

• Publisher: HarperCollinsChildren'sBooks
• Publication date: 2007
• ISBN 10: 0007107188
• ISBN 13: 9780007107186
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 128
• Illustrator: Michael Foreman