Falling for Joey

How many times in your life have you sat down with a book (sometimes thinking you might not like it), and fell in love with its characters?  It happens to me quite a bit - but then again, I have made a life out of reading.... and I get the chance to read tons of really great books.  Did it happen with Charlotte in Charlotte's Web or Laura in Little House in the Big Woods or even Aslan in The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardobe?

This most recently occurred for me while reading the 1984 novel from Michael Morpurgo, War Horse.  I was forced to read the book because it was nominated for an Illinois state book award and was not looking forward to it, but almost immediately fell in love with the story's main character, a horse named Joey.

Last week, while describing the plot to a coworker in the lunch room, I broke down crying at the absolute beauty of the story.  I tell everyone I meet about how wonderful this book is.  It was while describing this novel to a patron that I was informed that a similar story was coming out as a movie in December.  I immediately ran to my computer to look it up and sure enough - War Horse is being made into a movie, coming to theaters on December 28th.  Not only do the pictures from the promotional materials look absolutely stunning (way more interesting than the cover of the book), but I was pleased to see that Steven Spielberg himself is directing the film.

With the amount of movies being made each year, it is sometimes hard to know when something good is coming out - something with a great moral and a good heart.  This one is not to be missed, but you still have plenty of time before the movie comes out to read the book with your family.... it is an incredible story of courage, love, and understanding in a time of war.  I highly encourage you to check it out and read it together with your family and just like me, fall for Joey.