Flamingo Boy

Last updated

Flamingo Boy
Flamingo boy book cover.png
First edition cover
Author Michael Morpurgo
LanguageEnglish
Genre Children's novel
Publisher HarperCollins
Publication date
8 March 2018
Publication place United Kingdom
Media typePrint
Pages288
ISBN 978-0-00-813464-8 Hardback

Flamingo Boy, also known as The Day the World Stopped Turning, [1] is a British children's novel written by Michael Morpurgo. The book was first published in the United Kingdom as Flamingo Boy by HarperCollins in 2018. The book was inspired in part by Morpurgo's grandson, who is autistic.

Contents

Plot

Flamingo Boy is set during World War II, in Camargue in southern France. It is centred on an autistic boy named Lorenzo, who is growing up on a farm in that region when the Germans invade the country and occupy France. The story begins in contemporary France though, where a teen-aged boy named Vincent, is being rehabilitated in the home of a Camargue woman, who enjoys telling the youngster stories about the war. She goes into detail how there were flamingos who fled the region, and Lorenzo, an autistic teenager, who gave her comfort and refuge when the Nazis invaded the town.

Background

It's the people who don't fit in who change the world.

Michael Morpurgo [2]

Morpurgo said he was inspired to write the book based on two distinct experiences in his life. The first one being his autistic fifteen-year-old grandson. He said getting to know and understand his grandson has "been an eye-opener". [3] Morpurgo says that "for years and years, children like this were put away, hidden from sight, yet they cast a great light into other people's lives because there is something elemental about them, and the child that is in each of us is very visible in an autistic child". [4] Morpurgo also points out that he discussed it beforehand with his family, since they were "real people involved in the story". He says they were on board for him discussing his grandson in the novel, and were pleased he was going to "create more awareness among people, who have no real connection to the subject matter until it has an impact on their own life". [5]

The second experience involved him going on holiday in Camargue. Morpurgo said he recalls thinking how isolated the place was, and that "autistic children can't really go out in the world alone". [3] He visited a national park in the area where there were pink flamingos, and it "gave me the story of an autistic boy growing up in a farmhouse amongst these creatures". [2] He also decided to set the story during World War II, when France was occupied by Germany. He noted that during this time-frame, people "who were different", were constantly under threat for being locked up and horribly mistreated by the Nazi regime. [2] Morpurgo goes on to say about the two experiences, "it's not deliberately weaving, it's things that I come across that seem to work together". [3]

Reviews

Jennifer Hillman from the School Librarian wrote that "throughout the book, the vivid and dramatic events surrounding these characters and the prejudices their families face, is delicately and sensitively handled". She says it is not only "a story of intolerance, but it is also an inspiring tale of friendship and courage which children will undoubtedly adore". [6] Nicolette Jones wrote in The Sunday Times that "not every phrase is finely turned, but the storytelling is, as always, irresistible and the characters clasp your heart. Don't forget, this is Michael Morpurgo: you will need a handkerchief for the happy ending". [7]

In her review for The Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books , Natalie Berglind said "this quiet, introspective story is pulled along by the magnetic voices of Vincent and Kezia, who easily draw readers into the past". She also notes how Morpurgo "touches upon the common debate about the intentions of individual Nazis through the nuanced portrayal of a German officer who displays frequent kindness and the family's measured reaction – they may not all be wicked, but they do wicked things". She sums up her review by stating, "Lorenzo is sensitively portrayed, and he has great depth of character in spite of his limited speech, and overall, readers will learn much about history, culture, friendship, and morality with an unambiguously happy ending that is worth a read". [8]

Kids Book Review opined that the novel is "filled with compassion and love, and this perfectly crafted story is full of humanity and hope. It's about family and what defines it, friendship and fate, and how people who are outcasts – people with uncommon minds, are the ones that make a difference to the common person's life". [9]

See also

Related Research Articles

<i>The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time</i> 2003 mystery novel by Mark Haddon

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time is a 2003 mystery novel by British writer Mark Haddon. Its title refers to an observation by the fictional detective Sherlock Holmes in the 1892 short story "The Adventure of Silver Blaze". Haddon and The Curious Incident won the Whitbread Book Awards for Best Novel and Book of the Year, the Commonwealth Writers' Prize for Best First Book, and the Guardian Children's Fiction Prize. Unusually, it was published simultaneously in separate editions for adults and children.

Ole Ivar Løvaas was a Norwegian-American clinical psychologist and professor at the University of California, Los Angeles. He is most well known for his research on what is now called applied behavior analysis (ABA) to teach autistic children through prompts, modeling, and positive reinforcement. His application of the science was also noted for its use of aversives (punishment) to reduce undesired behavior, which are no longer supported as a part of most ABA treatment plans.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Michael Morpurgo</span> British childrens writer (born 1943)

Sir Michael Andrew Bridge Morpurgo is an English book author, poet, playwright, and librettist who is known best for children's novels such as War Horse (1982). His work is noted for its "magical storytelling", for recurring themes such as the triumph of an outsider or survival, for characters' relationships with nature, and for vivid settings such as the Cornish coast or the trenches of the First World War. Morpurgo was the third Children's Laureate, from 2003 to 2005, and is President of BookTrust, a children's reading charity.

<i>The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas</i> 2006 novel by John Boyne

The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas is a 2006 historical fiction novel by Irish novelist John Boyne. The plot concerns a German boy named Bruno whose father is the commandant of Auschwitz and Bruno's friendship with a Jewish detainee named Shmuel.

<i>Why the Whales Came</i> 2004 British childrens novel

Why the Whales Came is a British children's story written by Michael Morpurgo. It was first published in 1985 in the United Kingdom by William Heinemann, and by Scholastic in the United States. It is set on the island of Bryher, one of the Isles of Scilly, off the coast of Cornwall, in the year 1914. In 1989, It was adapted into the film When the Whales Came, and in 2001 it was adapted into a stage play.

<i>Private Peaceful</i> 2003 book by Michael Morpurgo

Private Peaceful is a novel for older children by British author Michael Morpurgo first published in 2003. It is about a fictional young soldier called Thomas "Tommo" Peaceful, who is looking back on his life so far and his going to war. The story focuses on the harsh realities of English rural life and warfare, and highlights the British Army's practice of executing its own soldiers during the First World War. Morpurgo was inspired to write the novel after learning about the around 300 British and Commonwealth soldiers who were shot for crimes like desertion and cowardice. The novel helped further the campaign to grant posthumous pardons to the men, which were agreed and implemented by the UK Government in 2006.

<i>The Book Thief</i> 2006 novel by Markus Zusak

The Book Thief is a historical fiction novel by the Australian author Markus Zusak, set in Nazi Germany during World War II. Published in 2005, The Book Thief became an international bestseller and was translated into 63 languages and sold 17 million copies. It was adapted into the 2013 feature film, The Book Thief.

<i>The Butterfly Lion</i> British 1996 childrens novel

The Butterfly Lion is a children's novel by Michael Morpurgo. It was first published in Great Britain by Collins in 1996, and won the 1996 Smarties book prize. The book was adapted into a stage play by Daniel Buckroyd of the Mercury Theatre, Colchester, which toured the UK in 2013.

<i>War Horse</i> (novel) Book by Michael Morpurgo

War Horse is a British war novel by Michael Morpurgo. It was first published in Great Britain by Kaye & Ward in 1982. The story recounts the experiences of Joey, a horse bought by the Army for service in World War I in France and the attempts of 15-year-old Albert, his previous owner, to bring him safely home. It formed the basis of both an award-winning play (2007) and an acclaimed film adaptation (2011) by Steven Spielberg. The novel is often considered one of Morpurgo's best works, and its success spawned a sequel titled Farm Boy, which was published in October 1997.

<i>Waiting for Anya</i> 1990 childrens novel by Michael Morpurgo

Waiting for Anya is a British children's novel written by Michael Morpurgo. It was first published in Great Britain in 1990, by William Heinemann. It is set in Lescun, in a mountainous region of southern France on the border with Spain. It was shortlisted for the Carnegie Medal; nominated by the American Library Association as Best Book for Young Adults; it was a School Library Journal Best Book of the Year; it was a NCSS-CBC Notable Children's Trade Book in the field of Social Studies, and was a finalist for the Guardian Children's Fiction Prize. In 2020, it was adapted into a film with the same name.

<i>Alone on a Wide Wide Sea</i> 2006 book by Michael Morpurgo

Alone on a Wide Wide Sea is a children's novel written by Michael Morpurgo, first published in 2006 by HarperCollins. It was partly inspired by the history of English orphans transported to Australia after World War II. The book's title is taken from a line in The Rime of the Ancient Mariner. The novel won the Rotherham Children's Book Award; the Independent Booksellers' Book of the Year for Children; and was short-listed for the Red House Children's Book Award for books for older readers. In 2017, the book was adapted into an audio play by Ian McMillan, which was broadcast on BBC Radio 2 in four half-hour parts.

<i>White Mane</i> 1953 French film

White Mane is a 1953 short film directed by French filmmaker Albert Lamorisse. It is based on a children's book with the same name by the French author René Guillot.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hans Asperger</span> Austrian physician (1906–1980)

Johann Friedrich Karl Asperger was an Austrian physician. Noted for his early studies on atypical neurology, specifically in children, he is the namesake of the former autism spectrum disorder Asperger syndrome. He wrote more than 300 publications on psychological disorders that posthumously acquired international renown in the 1980s. His diagnosis of autism, which he termed "autistic psychopathy", garnered controversy. Further controversy arose in the late 2010s over allegations that Asperger referred children to the Am Spiegelgrund children's clinic in Vienna during the Nazi period. The clinic was responsible for murdering hundreds of disabled children deemed to be "unworthy of life" as part of the Third Reich's child euthanasia programs, although the extent of Asperger's knowledge of this fact and his intentions in referring patients to the clinic remain yet to be ascertained.

<i>Billy the Kid</i> (novel) 1997 British childrens novel

Billy the Kid is a British children's novel written by Michael Morpurgo, and illustrated by Michael Foreman. It was originally published by Pavilion Books in 2000. Like many of his other novels, it was adapted into a stage play. In 2016, a multi-sensory sculpture of Billy the Kid was put on display at Seven Stories, where Morpurgo had previously donated all of his manuscripts.

Autism spectrum disorders (ASDs) or autism spectrum conditions (ASCs) describe a range of conditions classified as neurodevelopmental disorders in the DSM-5, used by the American Psychiatric Association. As with many neurodivergent people and conditions, the popular image of autistic people and autism itself is often based on inaccurate media representations. Additionally, media about autism may promote pseudoscience such as vaccine denial or facilitated communication.

<i>The Reason I Jump</i> 2007 biography book by Naoki Higashida

The Reason I Jump: One Boy's Voice from the Silence of Autism is an autobiography attributed to Naoki Higashida, a largely nonspeaking autistic person from Japan. It was first published in Japan in 2007. The English translation, by Keiko Yoshida and her husband, English author David Mitchell, was published in 2013.

<i>Running Wild</i> (novel) 2009 childrens novel by Michael Morpurgo

Running Wild is a children's novel by Michael Morpurgo first published in 2009 by HarperCollins. It recounts the adventures of a boy who has to survive in the Indonesian jungle after being rescued from a tsunami by an elephant. The novel is loosely based on the true story of a girl who was saved from the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami by an elephant. In 2016, Samuel Adamson adapted the book for the stage, in a production directed by Timothy Sheader at the Regent's Park Open Air Theatre.

<i>Farm Boy</i> (novel) 1997 British childrens novel

Farm Boy is a British children's novel written by Michael Morpurgo, and illustrated by Michael Foreman. The book is the sequel to the popular novel War Horse. The book was first published in the United Kingdom in 1997 by Pavilion Books. It was republished in 1999 by HarperCollins Children's Book. The novel was adapted into a stage play in 2010.

<i>An Elephant in the Garden</i> 2010 British childrens novel

An Elephant in the Garden is a British children's novel written by Michael Morpurgo, and illustrated by Michael Foreman. It was originally published in the United Kingdom by HarperCollins, and released in May 2010. The book is based on actual events that took place in Belfast during World War II, and is inspired by the story of Denise Weston Austin. The novel was also adapted into a stage play with the same name, that had its debut in 2014 in the United Kingdom.

<i>The Sleeping Sword</i> 2002 British childrens novel

The Sleeping Sword is a British children's novel written by Michael Morpurgo, and illustrated by Michael Foreman. The book was first published in the United Kingdom by Egmont Books in 2002. The sword found on the island of Bryher, inspired Morpurgo's Arthurian tale, set in the Scilly Isles, and is a story within a story.

References

  1. ↑ Morpurgo, Michael (9 July 2019). The Day the World Stopped Turning. New York: Feiwel & Friends. ISBN   978-1-250-10707-7. OCLC   1045188005.
  2. 1 2 3 Freeman, Martin (17 March 2018). "Between The Lines: Flamingo Boy By Michael Morpurgo". Western Morning News . p. 23.
  3. 1 2 3 Gapper, John (9 March 2018). "War Horse Writer Michael Morpurgo on Brexit and the Art of Grief". Financial Times .
  4. ↑ Fergusson, Maggie (Winter 2018). "A Modern Pied Piper". Slightly Foxed . No. 60. p. 52.
  5. ↑ Keating, Sara (19 May 2018). "My First Impressions of the World Were a Bombed Place". Irish Times . p. 13.
  6. ↑ Hillman, Jennifer (Autumn 2018). "Morpurgo, Michael: Flamingo Boy". School Librarian . Vol. 66, no. 3. p. 173.
  7. ↑ Jones, Nicolette (4 March 2018). "Children's Book of the Week: Flamingo Boy by Michael Morpurgo". The Sunday Times . p. 40. ISSN   0956-1382. Archived from the original on 25 December 2024. book extract
  8. ↑ Berglind, Natalie (July–August 2019). "The Day the World Stopped Turning by Michael Morpurgo (review)". The Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books . 72 (11). Johns Hopkins University Press: 487–488. doi:10.1353/bcc.2019.0504. ISSN   0008-9036.
  9. ↑ Powell, Dimity (23 September 2018). "Review: Flamingo Boy". Kids Book Review.

Further reading

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.