2012 Book Award Shortlist

‘Shadow’ by Michael Morpurgo

About the book:

When a western dog shows up outside the caves in Afghanistan where Aman lives with his mother, Aman is initially repulsed – it is not customary for people to keep dogs as pets in his part of the world. But when Aman and his mother finally decide to make a bid for freedom, the dog Aman has called Shadow will not leave their side. Soon it becomes clear: the destinies of boy and dog are linked, and always will be…

About the Author:

Michael Morpurgo is the author of many books for children, five of which have been made into films.

Born in St Albans, Hertfordshire, in 1943, he was evacuated to Cumberland during the last years of the war, then returned to London, moving later to Essex. After a brief 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 awarded an MBE for services to youth. In 2003 Michael Morpurgo became the third Children’s Laureate, a scheme he had originally helped to set up with poet Ted Hughes. Morpurgo firmly believes that ‘literature comes before literacy’ and wants all children ‘… to discover and rediscover the secret pleasure that is reading, and to begin to find their voice in their own writing …’

He was awarded an OBE in 2006 for services to literature.