Review: Private Peaceful by Michael Morpurgo

Title: Private Peaceful
Author: Michael  Morpurgo
Publisher: Scholastic
Pub. Date: October 1, 2004
Length: 208 Pages
Summary (from goodreads):

They've gone now, and I'm alone at last. I have the whole night ahead of me, and I won't waste a single moment of it . . . I want tonight to be long, as long as my life . . ." For young Private Peaceful, looking back over his childhood while he is on night watch in the battlefields of the First World War, his memories are full of family life deep in the countryside: his mother, Charlie, Big Joe, and Molly -- the love of his life. Too young to be enlisted, Thomas has followed his brother to war and now, every moment he spends thinking about his life, means another moment closer to danger.

My Thoughts: I didn't expect to like Private Peaceful. I read it for English, and none of the previous books I'd read in that class had captured my attention and I figured this one would be no different. So I was pleasantly surprised when Private Peaceful did just what those other books could not.

Private Peaceful is shorter, easier, and more middle grade-style than what I usually read, however, I really enjoyed it. I was captivated from the start by the author's way of writing and was kept there by his great method of working events together to create a wonderful story.

In this novel, we look back with Tommo and follow him through his life; starting when he is a young boy on his first day of school and finishing when the clock strikes six one fateful morning. Full of great emotion and unexpected turns, Private Peaceful is an inspirational story that will stay with the reader for a long time.