Over 650 Readathon schools and 75,000 students joined our live event with Michael Morpurgo to celebrate 40 years of War Horse, and to hear about his inspiration, research and love of reading.
Readathon schools were treated to an incredible live event with the inimitable Michael Morpurgo on Thursday 2 March 2023 for World Book Day, hosted by one of Read for Good’s amazing storytellers, Jenn Lunn. We are incredibly grateful to publisher, Harper Collins, for their support bringing this event to life.
The world-renowned, award-winning author of War Horse, Kensuke’s Kingdom and Private Peaceful – to name just a few – joined Read for Good to celebrate 40 years of War Horse, and share glimpses of his history, research and inspiration behind the much beloved story.
He spoke beautifully about the power of reading and literature, and the importance of the reader in story, “You’re the reader, and without you the story is pointless. It’s just words on paper. You’re the people that make it come alive in your mind.”
Michael’s words had a profound impact on children across the UK, with one school sharing that they were inspired to read together after the event – “we discovered one of [Michael’s] favourite stories was The Elephant’s Child so we decided to read it together, finding it very amusing!”.
Thank you to all the schools who joined us for the event – if you haven’t already, sign up for your 2023-2024 Readathon now!
We are delighted that schools, parents and pupils can now watch this film anytime:
Running time: 49 minutes
“Our Y8 boys thoroughly enjoyed hearing Michael talk and his books have been flying off the shelves since!” The Mosslands School, Wallasey
“We’ve loved reading [Michael’s] books through our time in school and found it fascinating to listen to him speak about reading and writing.” Much Woolton School, Liverpool
“[An] amazing live virtual visit from the legendary author Sir Michael Morpurgo!” Edgar Wood Academy, Rochdale
“[We] will be studying the play version of ‘War Horse’ this term and loved the opportunity to be able to ‘meet’ the author virtually.” St Bede’s College, Manchester
Share this video with parents and pupils and find out more about Michael Morpurgo at michaelmorpurgo.com
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