Amazing Story of Adolphus Tips - Hardcover

Michael Morpurgo

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0007456182 ISBN 13: 9780007456185

Publisher: HarperCollins Children's Books, 2011

Synopsis

Luxury collectors hardback gift edition.A heart-warming tale of courage, set against the backdrop of the second world war, about an abandoned village, a lifelong friendship and one very adventurous cat."Something's up. Something big too, very big. At school, in the village, whoever you meet, it's all anyone talks about. It's like a sudden curse has come down on us all. It makes me wonder if we'll ever see the sun again."It's 1943, and Lily Tregenza lives on a farm, in the idyllic seaside village of Slapton. Apart from her father being away, and the 'townie' evacuees at school, her life is scarcely touched by the war. Until one day, Lily and her family, along with 3000 other villagers, are told to move out of their homes lock, stock and barrel.Soon, the whole area is out of bounds, as the Allied forces practise their landings for D-day, preparing to invade France. But Tips, Lily's adored cat, has other ideas barbed wire and keep-out signs mean nothing to her, nor does the danger of guns and bombs. Frantic to find her, Lily makes friends with two young American soldiers, who promise to help her. But will she ever see her cat again Lily decides to cross the wire into the danger zone to look for Tips herselfNow, many years later, as Michael is reading his Grandma Lily's diary, he learns about The Amazing Story of Adolphus Tips and wonders at how one adventurous cat could still affect their lives sixty years later.

About this title

About the Author

Michael Morpurgo OBE is one of Britain's best-loved writers for children, and has sold more than 35 million books around the world. He has written more than 150 novels and won many prizes, including the Smarties Prize, the Whitbread Award and the Blue Peter Book Award, while several of his books have been adapted for stage and screen, including the global theatrical phenomenon War Horse. Michael was Children's Laureate from 2003 to 2005, and founded the charity Farms for City Children with his wife, Clare. He was knighted in 2018 for services to literature and charity.

From School Library Journal

Grade 5-7–Morpurgo frames this story with a grandmother sharing her girlhood journal with her grandson and a letter explaining what she has recently done. In the main story, Lily is 12 in 1943 and lives in southern coastal England. The war brings a foreign teacher, American soldiers, evacuees from London, and the sound of warplanes to their rural area. The girl's family is forced to move from their farm to an uncle's so the army can use their land to practice sea landings. A boy evacuee moves in with them. Lily's rocks during this unsettled time are her cat, Tips, and the friendship she strikes up with a black American soldier, Adolphus, better known as Adie. Decades later, Lily sees Adie and his son on the beach. Their friendship is rekindled and, after her husband's death, she visits him in Atlanta, GA. As the story ends in the present, she tells her grandchild that she and Adie have just married and that she is bringing him home to London with her. This is an appealing story, but it has a nostalgic quality that may limit its interest to children.–Jane G. Connor, South Carolina State Library, Columbia
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Edition details

• Publisher: HarperCollins Children's Books
• Publication date: 2011
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0007456182
• ISBN 13: 9780007456185
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 192