Our Jacko

By Michael Morpurgo

2018

First Published

4.19

Average Rating

Number of Pages

1H57M

Audio Length

A deeply personal and tender story of war, peace and those who are left behind. One hundred years after the war to end all wars, Jacko’s descendants discover his notebook and the untold stories tucked in its pages. "This war is a nightmare that one day I shall wake from and then forget. And if I don't wake, then you shall never know. I don't want you ever to know." No one seems to know where the scruffy tin hat came from – just that it is very old, from some war or other long ago. To young Michael and his family it has its uses today: as a child’s toy, a feeding bowl for the hens, a hanging basket... Then Michael discovers that it belonged to his great-great-grandfather, “Our Jacko”, who lost his life at Ypres in 1915. As the boy digs deeper, he finds the young soldier's diary and learns more about his forgotten ancestor – husband, father, poet, actor – who died so tragically young. And it becomes clear exactly how Our Jacko should be commemorated.

Avg Rating

4.19

Number of Ratings

123

5 STARS

43%

4 STARS

37%

3 STARS

17%

2 STARS

1 STARS

goodreads

Author

Michael Morpurgo

Author · 138 books

Sir Michael Andrew Morpurgo, OBE, FRSL is the author of many books for children, five of which have been made into films. He also writes his own screenplays and libretti for opera. Born in St Albans, Hertfordshire, in 1943, he was evacuated to Cumberland during the last years of the Second World War, then returned to London, moving later to Essex. After a brief and unsuccessful spell in the army, he took up teaching and started to write. He left teaching after ten years in order to set up 'Farms for City Children' with his wife. They have three farms in Devon, Wales and Gloucestershire, open to inner city school children who come to stay and work with the animals. In 1999 this work was publicly recognised when he and his wife were invested a Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) for services to youth. In 2003, he was advanced to an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE). He became a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature (FRSL) in 2004. He was knighted in the 2018 for his services to literature and charity. He is also a father and grandfather, so children have always played a large part in his life. Every year he and his family spend time in the Scilly Isles, the setting for three of his books.