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Best-selling author Michael Morpurgo turns his storytelling skills to the drama and tragedy of the Spanish Civil War, illustrated by Michael Foreman.

TORO,TORO is the story of a young boy growing up in Andalucia, Spain, on a farm rearing bulls for the bull ring. Antonito hand rears a little black calf and they become firm friends, but the boy doesn't yet understand the fate of the black bulls - the corrida and death. 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 (it's the year 1936, and the Spanish Civil War has started) 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. Could this really be Paco? But no-one has ever seen him. After the war, when Antonito is working as a muleteer in the mountains, he falls asleep and dreams of Paco. In the morning, he wakes to see hoof prints on the ground beside him...

A delightful story, full of nostalgia and drama in the author's own inimitable style. Illustrated by Michael Foreman.

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School Library Journal Review

Gr 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 (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Booklist Review

Gr. 4-6.nowing his grandson is upset after a minor incident, Antonito, an understanding grandfather, tells a story from his own childhood during the Spanish Civil War. The story begins when the grandfather witnesses the birth of a bull on his father's farm in Andalucia. Young Antonito and the bull calf form a special bond, but Antonito is shocked to discover that the bull is destined to die in the ring. In a bid to save his pet, Antonito releases his father's bulls. Only hours after this impetuous act, however, Franco's planes bomb Antonito's farm. Antonito escapes the advancing troops by running to the hills, barely managing to survive until he is rescued by a band of nationalist guerrillas, led by his uncle. Antonito narrates the epic, detailed events in an understated voice, but the sense of regret and loss resonate from nearly every page. Small gray-toned drawings illustrate this simply told yet powerful account of war's tragic toll. --Todd Morning Copyright 2004 Booklist

Notas de autor provistas por Syndetics

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)