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Any story you write about war, or film you make about war, is bound to be political whether you like it or not.
Michael Morpurgo -
Perhaps it is partly that we need to love books ourselves as parents, grandparents and teachers in order to pass on that passion for stories to our children. It's not about testing and reading schemes, but about loving stories and passing on that passion to our children.
Michael Morpurgo
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Wherever my story takes me, however dark and difficult the theme, there is always some hope and redemption, not because readers like happy endings, but because I am an optimist at heart. I know the sun will rise in the morning, that there is a light at the end of every tunnel.
Michael Morpurgo -
Stories make you think and dream; books make you want to ask questions.
Michael Morpurgo -
It's the teacher that makes the difference, not the classroom.
Michael Morpurgo -
Read a lot - poems, prose, stories, newspapers, anything. Read books and poems that you think you will like and some that you think might not be for you. You might be surprised.
Michael Morpurgo -
By the time I sit down and face the blank page I am raring to go. I tell it as if I'm talking to my best friend or one of my grandchildren.
Michael Morpurgo -
If I learned anything in this life, I've learned that you can't cling on.
Michael Morpurgo
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Live an interesting life. Meet people. Read a lot and widely, learn from the great writers
Michael Morpurgo -
I think there's something about studying a book which will kill it if you're not careful.
Michael Morpurgo -
Unless you can be in a place yourself and go through the subject of your story yourself, the next best thing is not to read a book about it, or see a movie about it, it's to talk to the people who've been there.
Michael Morpurgo -
Access to books and the encouragement of the habit of reading: these two things are the first and most necessary steps in education and librarians, teachers and parents all over the country know it. It is our children's right and it is also our best hope and their best hope for the future.
Michael Morpurgo -
If it is possible to be happy in the middle of a nightmare, then Topthorn and I were happy that summer.
Michael Morpurgo -
There is the myth that writing books for children is easier than writing books for grownups, whereas we know that truly great books for children are works of genius, whether it's 'Alice in Wonderland' or the 'Gruffalo' or 'Northern Lights.' When it's a great book, it's a great book, whether it's for children or not.
Michael Morpurgo
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Remember to write for yourself, not for a market and give yourself time to develop your own style, your own voice. It takes a lifetime. Enjoy it!
Michael Morpurgo -
cause when there's life there's still hope
Michael Morpurgo -
Children have to be motivated to want to learn to read. Reading must not be taught simply as a school exercise.
Michael Morpurgo -
My Albert married his Maisie Brown as he said he would. But I think she never took to me, nor I to her for that matter. Perhaps it was a feeling of mutual jealousy.
Michael Morpurgo -
As a young child my attention span was, as I remember it, rather short.
Michael Morpurgo -
Characters are the key to a good book. It took me several novels to comprehend that.
Michael Morpurgo
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Anything that gets children reading is fine.
Michael Morpurgo -
Books that kids read should be about what is going on in the world.
Michael Morpurgo -
What's really good is that there are people making stories and writing them and the vast majority never see the light of day and it doesn't matter a fig.
Michael Morpurgo -
That's what sailing is, a dance, and your partner is the sea. And with the sea you never take liberties. You ask her, you don't tell her. You have to remember always that she's the leader, not you. You and your boat are dancing to her tune.
Michael Morpurgo