An Eagle in the Snow This is one of sixteen resources that you can use with your class to celebrate Michael Morpurgo Month in February, or to explore books from the world famous author at any other time of the year. Each resource is built around an extract but also shares some of the key themes from the complete story that make the book such a rich and enjoyable text to share with your class. The extracts can be read with the class using the accompanying PowerPoints, and there are teacher notes and pupil challenges to help children develop their own story-writing skills. This activity looks at the language choices Michael Morpurgo makes to describe characters, and his different use of sentence structure and poetic devices.
An Eagle in the Snow 1940. Barney and his mother, their home destroyed by bombing, are travelling to the country when their train is forced to shelter in a tunnel from attacking German planes. There, in the darkness, a stranger on the train begins to tell them a story. A story about Billy Byron, the most decorated soldier of WWI, who once had the chance to end the war before it even began, and how he tried to fix his mistake. But sometimes the right thing is hard to see – and even harder to live with…
Themes and ideas An Eagle in the Snow is a powerful novel, inspired by a true story. The tale combines moments of action and excitement with poignancy and reflection, and raises many ideas and themes to be explored with a class of children, including: Big decisions In the story, the decision Billy makes, to spare Hitler’s life, is one that haunts him. Billy wonders if his decision makes him responsible in some way for Hitler’s rise to power and WWII itself.
Illustrations © Michael Foreman, 2015