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Summary
Summary
Alfie lives off the coast of England. Merry lives in New York City. Until Merry and her mother set sail on the Lusitania for England, where Merry's father is recuperating from a war injury. People told them not to go, hearing rumors that the Lusitania might be carrying munitions. But they are desperate to be reunited with Merry's father.
Alfie and his father find a lost girl in an abandoned house on a small island. The girl doesn't speak, except to say what sounds like "Lucy." Alfie's mother nurses her back to health. The others in the village suspect the unthinkable: Lucy is actually German-an enemy-because she's found with a blanket with a German tag.
Told from Alfie and Merry's points of view, this exquisite novel tells of friends, enemies, and unexpected kindnesses.
Author Notes
British author Michael Morpurgo was born in St. Albans, Hertforshire in 1943. He attended the University of London and studied English and French. He became a primary school teacher in Kent for about ten years. He and his wife Clare started a charity called Farms for City Children. They currently own three farms where over 2000 children a year stay for a week and experience the countryside by taking part in purposeful farmwork.
He has published over 100 books and several screenplays. He won the 1995 Whitbread Children's Book Award for The Wreck of the Zanzibar, the 1996 Nestle Smarties Book Prize for The Butterfly Lion, and the 2000 Children's Book Award for Kensuke's Kingdom. Private Peaceful won the 2005 Red House Children's Book Award and the Blue Peter Book of the Year Award. Five of his books have been made into movies and two have been adapted for television. He was named as the third Children's Laureate in May 2003.
(Bowker Author Biography)
Reviews (6)
Publisher's Weekly Review
Morpurgo (War Horse) returns to a WWI setting with an emotional tale of wreck and recovery. The year is 1915. The Scilly Isles, north of Cornwall, are somewhat sheltered from the fighting that rages on the continent, but not completely. Alfie Wheatcroft and his father find a girl stranded on the isolated island of St. Helen's-she is unable to speak, on the edge of death, and wrapped in a blanket labeled "Wilhelm." Alfie and his family take her in, hoping to help her regain her speech, mind, and memories. The community, however, worries that she might be a German-possibly a spy, or just an enemy. In fact, "Lucy's" story is longer, stranger, and more traumatic than they could imagine, and she has good reason for her amnesia, elective mutism, and desperate fear of the water. A framing device, built around the research of Lucy's future grandson, allows Morpurgo to shift among multiple narrators as he unspools the mystery of where she came from. Along the way, Morpurgo offers powerful descriptions of shipwreck, mass drowning, and devastation, as well as healing and growth. Ages 10-14. (Oct.) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
Horn Book Review
During WWI in a small fishing village off the coast of England, a boy and his father discover a young girl, injured and mute. As the family nurses her back to health, townspeople grow suspicious that she's German; in reality, she's a survivor of the sunken Lusitania. Morpurgo incorporates the profound effects of war on ordinary people in an emotionally charged historical drama. (c) Copyright 2016. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Booklist Review
*Starred Review* Remember the Lusitania! That fateful day in May 1915 certainly won't be forgotten by 12-year-old American castaway Merry, who is saved on the Scilly Isles off the coast of Cornwall, England, by fisherman Jim Wheatcroft and his son Alfie, who heard a humanlike noise coming from the uninhabited St. Helen's Island. They bring the girl, her teddy bear, and her blanket home, where the family patiently nurses the girl back to health, though her lost speech is the most difficult affliction to remedy. Merry, known only as Lucy Lost, becomes a curiosity to the townsfolk, who begin to wonder if her mysterious origins mean that she is German. Soon they start to believe that retribution against the Wheatcrofts will show they mean business about harboring enemies. Morpurgo traces Merry's tale from New York and her trip to see her father recovering from war injuries in England to the sinking and her rescue, and always with a deliberate pace. Chapters intertwined with the narrative describing Merry's interests in music, drawing, horses, and the moon help readers understand the girl. While back matter duly describes the tale's historic and geographic significance, it is Morpurgo's finely woven tapestry of community, trust, endurance, and unconditional family love that keep the Lusitania best remembered.--Bush, Gail Copyright 2015 Booklist
School Library Journal Review
Gr 5 Up-The place: the Scilly Isles, off the coast of Cornwall, England. The time: May 1915, during the bleak early days of World War I when German U-boats patrol the seas and sink British ships. While fishing near a deserted island, Alfie Wheatcroft and his father hear a child crying and discover a sick, traumatized, speechless girl. "Lucy" is all she can say, and "Lucy Lost" is what she is named. Alfie and his parents take her in, and although she slowly recovers her physical health, she remains silent. Brief glimpses of who she might be-her ability to tame the cantankerous workhorse Peg, her skill at drawing, her adoration of music-tantalize the islanders. Early tales that Lucy is part mermaid or ghost, though, soon veer into suspicion that she's actually a German spy, and vicious persecution follows. Since chapters about the Wheatcrofts alternate with the recollections of Canadian American Merry MacIntyre, who is traveling to Liverpool aboard the Lusitania, readers are well aware of Lucy's real identity and root for her recovery all the way. This is a superbly written, gripping novel of friendship, family, healing, and war that is primarily geared toward middle school readers but will appeal to adults as well. By framing Listen to the Moon as a historical study, quoting fictional primary sources, and including helpful background information, Morpurgo may also inspire students to interview relatives and document their own family stories. VERDICT This is one of Morpurgo's best works to date; a first purchase for middle grade and teen collections.-Ann W. Moore, Schenectady County Public Library, NY © Copyright 2015. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Guardian Review
Imagine a kind of blind book tasting - you are given a novel without an author's name on the cover and your task is to work out who wrote it. You quickly discover that most of the action is set on the Scilly Isles during the first world war, one of the main characters is a child who survives the sinking of a ship and the story is a tearjerker practically from page one. Oh, yes - there's a horse involved as well. Such a novel could only have been produced by one writer. . . the author of The Wreck of the Zanzibar, Kensuke's Kingdom and War Horse. Michael Morpurgo has used these ingredients before with varying levels of success, but this time he has poured all his favourite themes and obsessions into one big story. In the opening pages we meet young Alfie Wheatcroft and his parents Jim and Mary. They live on the island of Bryher, and survive by fishing and farming. One day Alfie bunks off school to go fishing with his dad, and they find a mysterious girl on another island that is supposed to be uninhabited. She is injured and almost dead of starvation and exposure, so they take her back to Bryher. To begin with, the only word the girl utters sounds like "Lucy". So they call her Lucy Lost and try to work out how she ended up marooned alone in the Scilly Isles. Gradually she responds to the family's love, particularly the tender ministrations of Alfie's mum. Lucy displays various talents - she can draw, play the piano and ride, her relationship with a grumpy horse, Peg, doing them both some good. She still refuses to speak, however, even when she has to go to school with Alfie. Up to this point the rest of the island's inhabitants have been intrigued by her, but before long she falls under the shadow of suspicion. Is she staying silent because she is German? Intense wartime paranoia and the claustrophobia of a small community soon makes life very difficult for Lucy and the Wheatcrofts. The truth of Lucy's backstory is revealed in chapters told from her viewpoint - although Lucy has another name. We find out the ship involved in the story was the Lusitania, notoriously torpedoed in the Atlantic just off Ireland by a U-boat in May 1915, and also that not all U-boat captains left the survivors of sinkings to drown. Lucy's silence is explained by the trauma of what she has experienced. The story has its faults. At 437 pages it is way too long, especially for a "middle-grade" novel. It starts well, but the first half is slow and should have been trimmed. And the lengthy extracts from the journal of the local doctor who treats Lucy could easily have been cut. Several of the secondary characters - a bully, a nasty headteacher and a crazy uncle - feel rather perfunctory. One accusation sometimes levelled at Morpurgo's books is that of sentimentality - the sense that the story is suffused with a level of emotion it doesn't earn. But that is always a danger when a writer tackles big subjects, and they don't come much bigger than war and how it affects the young and innocent. This might not be vintage Morpurgo, but it is still a pretty good read. Tony Bradman is the editor of Stories of World War One (Orchard), published earlier this year. - Tony Bradman To begin with, the only word the girl utters sounds like "Lucy". So they call her Lucy Lost and try to work out how she ended up marooned alone in the Scilly Isles. Gradually she responds to the family's love, particularly the tender ministrations of [Alfie Wheatcroft]'s mum. Lucy displays various talents - she can draw, play the piano and ride, her relationship with a grumpy horse, Peg, doing them both some good. The truth of Lucy's backstory is revealed in chapters told from her viewpoint - although Lucy has another name. We find out the ship involved in the story was the Lusitania, notoriously torpedoed in the Atlantic just off Ireland by a U-boat in May 1915, and also that not all U-boat captains left the survivors of sinkings to drown. Lucy's silence is explained by the trauma of what she has experienced. - Tony Bradman.
Kirkus Review
War invades a peaceful English fishing community. In May 1915 a fisherman and his son, Alfie, from the Scilly Isles west of Great Britain, find a little girl near death on a deserted island, take her home, and care for her. She does not speak but clings to a teddy bear and a blanket with a German name sewn on it. Naming her Lucy Lost, Alfie and his parents and a kindly and wise doctor nurture her with love, music from a gramophone, and drawing material. Months go by, and still no one can uncover any details about her life. But World War I is raging, the British harbor fierce anti-German sentiments, and when news of the name on her blanket spreads, the family is shunned. Morpurgo returns to the World War I of his much-lauded War Horse in a beautifully crafted, multivoiced novel about the sinking of the Lusitania, the strength of family bonds, the vicissitudes of memory, and the fear and bigotry of neighbors. Alfie's third-person tale provides the main storyline, supported by other voices, including excerpts from the doctor's journal and the narrow-minded school principal's records of his horrible teaching theories. It is through Lucy's voice that all the elements of the tale weave together both beautifully and dramatically. A poignant and life-affirming story from a master. (author's notes) (Historical fiction. 10-14) Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
