Toro! Toro! - Softcover

Morpurgo, Michael

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0007107188 ISBN 13: 9780007107186

Publisher: HarperCollinsChildren’sBooks, 2002

Synopsis

Toro! Toro! is the story of a young boy growing up in Andalucia, Spain, on a farm rearing bulls for the bull ring. Antonito rears a little black calf and they become firm friends, but the boy doesn't yet understand the fate of the black bulls. Later, when he learns of the horrors of the bull fight, he frees Paco, the black bull, and rides with him into the hills. There they witness the bombing of their village during the Spanish Civil War, and Antonito cannot go back—his family and the farm are destroyed, and Paco has run off, wild with fright. He decides to stay in the hills, where he meets up with the Resistance fighters. During the War, Antonito hears stories round the campfire of the wonderful black bull, who becomes a symbol of freedom for them all.

About this title

About the Author

Michael Morpurgo is the author of more than 60 children’s books, including Waiting for Anya and Kensuke’s Kingdom. Michael Foreman, whose books include the acclaimed War Boy, is a recipient of the Whitbread Award, the Writers’ Guild Children’s Book Award, and the Smarties Prize; he was also shortlisted for the Carnegie Medal.

From School Library Journal

Grade 5-8-A grandfather tells his grandson about the horrors of war in this story set during the Spanish Civil War. As a youngster, Antonito lived on a small farm outside the village of Sauceda. His father raised strong black bulls for the bullring, or corrida. The boy bonded with a newborn calf after its mother died, and in order to save it, he led Paco into the surrounding hills. While they were away, Franco's soldiers bombed the village. Leaving Paco behind, Antonito returned home, discovering the farm in flames. He escaped back into the safety of the countryside, but couldn't find the calf. Weeks later, suffering from hunger and exhaustion, he was found by his Uncle Juan, a Republican soldier, and nursed back to health. While recuperating, he heard a tale of a large black bull that chased down Nationalist soldiers, and he hoped that it was Paco. Years later, after he dreamed that the creature rested next to him while he slept in the forest, he awakened to discover hoof marks of a massive bull in the still-warm grass. Morpurgo's action-filled novel packs an emotional punch. The author gradually reveals the historical information and narrates the tale with the careful detachment of someone relating a story so awful that he can hardly bear to tell it. Ideal for reluctant readers, this book focuses on the loss and grief that grows out of times of war.
Shawn Brommer, South Central Library System, Madison, WI
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About this edition

• Publisher: HarperCollinsChildren’sBooks
• Publication date: 2002
• ISBN 10: 0007107188
• ISBN 13: 9780007107186
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 128
• Illustrator: Foreman Michael