Michael Morpurgo - Boy Giant

First published in Great Britain by HarperCollins Children’s Books in 2019

Published in this ebook edition in 2019

HarperCollins Children’s Books is a division of HarperCollins Publishers Ltd,

HarperCollins Publishers

1 London Bridge Street

London SE1 9GF

The HarperCollins Children’s Books website address is

www.harpercollins.co.uk

Text copyright © Michael Morpurgo 2019

Cover design copyright © HarperCollins Publishers Ltd 2019

Illustrations copyright © Michael Foreman 2019

Michael Morpurgo and Michael Foreman assert the moral right to be identified as the author and illustrator of the work respectively.

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this ebook onscreen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins.

Source ISBN: 9780008347918

Ebook Edition © September 2019 ISBN: 9780008347932

Version: 2019-08-20

For Tom and Kate,

and for Hannah, Jack and Zoe.

M.M.

To my big brothers,

Ivan and Pud,

giants of my boyhood.

M.F.

With thanks to Jonathan Swift, author of the great

Gulliver’s Travels , published on 28 October 1726.

Thanks also to Clare, Michael Foreman, Vicki

Berwick, Nick Lake and Ann-Janine Murtagh for

their help in making this book happen.

And also my thanks to Sarah Outen, ocean rower

extraordinaire, and an inspiration to us all.

‘Be not inhospitable to strangers lest they be angels in disguise’

George Whitman

CONTENTS

Cover

Title Page

Copyright First published in Great Britain by HarperCollins Children’s Books in 2019 Published in this ebook edition in 2019 HarperCollins Children’s Books is a division of HarperCollins Publishers Ltd, HarperCollins Publishers 1 London Bridge Street London SE1 9GF The HarperCollins Children’s Books website address is www.harpercollins.co.uk Text copyright © Michael Morpurgo 2019 Cover design copyright © HarperCollins Publishers Ltd 2019 Illustrations copyright © Michael Foreman 2019 Michael Morpurgo and Michael Foreman assert the moral right to be identified as the author and illustrator of the work respectively. A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this ebook onscreen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins. Source ISBN: 9780008347918 Ebook Edition © September 2019 ISBN: 9780008347932 Version: 2019-08-20

Dedication For Tom and Kate, and for Hannah, Jack and Zoe. M.M. To my big brothers, Ivan and Pud, giants of my boyhood. M.F.

Epigraph ‘Be not inhospitable to strangers lest they be angels in disguise’ George Whitman

First Part

1. Tiny, They Called Me

2. Fore Street, Mevagissey

3. Something to Cling On To

4. The Little People

5. Me, a Mountain!

6. Son of Gulliver

7. The Whole World

8. Gran Baruta

Second Part

9. Where Was I?

10. Thank You

11. Zaya and Natoban

12. Dark Clouds

13. A Tree to Climb On

14. Talking to Mother

Third Part

15. Round End Good. Sharp End Bad

16. The Wrecking of the Warships

17. The Eggy Part

18. How to Crack an Egg, Peacefully

Fourth Part

19. Blufescu

20. Bronar the Tyrant

21. Come What May

22. No More Tyrants!

23. Be There, Please, Mother

24. I Am Coming, Mother

25. Homeward Bound

26. So Here We Are

27. Yellow as the Sun

Fifth Part

28. Anything But Ordinary

29. Your Home Too

30. Not Like Lilliput

31. You’re That Girl, Aren’t You?

32. A Safe Place

33. A Proper Home

Keep Reading …

Also by Michael Morpurgo

About the Publisher

All we knew about her was that she called herself J.J., that she spoke English, that she was alone out there in her big yellow rowing boat and that she was like a giant to all three of us – even me – a giant with a bandaged wrist and plasters on her fingers.

‘So tell me,’ she said, ‘tell me everything.’

I could hardly refuse, could I? I mean, this J.J. had saved our lives. It was thanks only to this stranger that we were dry again, well fed, warm and rested.

‘I mean,’ she went on, ‘I want to know how it is that you’re out here on the open ocean in such a small boat. Who are you? Where have you come from?’

I could have asked her much the same questions. But I found myself telling her our whole story. I was happy to tell her too, not just because she had shown us such kindness, but because once I began telling her our story out loud, it somehow helped me to believe it had all really happened to me, helped me to remember who I was, who I had become. That she would believe me I had no doubt. After all, she had the evidence right in front of her. She could hardly take her eyes off the evidence. The three of us were there to prove it. We were the truth of our own story.