BY EMILY CLACHER (aged 8)

 

AFTER the inspirational tale of a man who went to war for his horse, Farm Boy does little to inspire younger readers to turn the pages.

Stretching across three generations, the story focuses on a boy who visits his grandfather in Devon every summer to work with him on his farm.

After he grew up and had been to college, he stayed at the farm. One day, Grandpa reaches out to his grandson to reveal the secret he has kept for the past fifty years – since the ending of War Horse – he cannot read or write, and asked his grandson to teach him. Once he had taught him, the boy asked if he could go on holiday to Australia.

During the long train journey, he reached into his bag and found a hand-written story written by his grandfather about his life.

The tale, written the way Grandpa speaks, opens on a tractor which he won in a ploughing contest with Joey (War Horse) in the form of a daydream.

The narrative from the book and from the main character, the grandson, is then woven with motifs showing the mixing of the dates. Joey is given his own storyline about his time in the war which brings another narrative, but at the centre of this book is the relationship between the Grandpa and grandson.

A balance of power is created in the writing - Grandpa obviously has a lot of experience but it is his grandson that gives him the opportunity to write it down. In essence he learns how to occupy his mind for when he retires and in this respect it is a substantial gift. The story finishes with the grandson telling the reader that he has decided to become a farmer having studied engineering. He fixes the tractor his grandfather won to bring us full circle with a daydream becoming reality.

Being a younger reader at only eight years of age, I did not particularly enjoy the book, but I am sure that older readers at the age of 11-12 would find it more enjoyable because of its mirroring with War Horse, mixing of the old with the new, and the dialect and native language the grandfather writes in.

 

This book was published by HarperCollinsChildren'sBooks and is available to buy for £5.99. It can also be borrowed from The Hive as well as other Worcestershire libraries. Click here to check availability and check it out.