I use book reviews on Amazon a lot to inform my buying decisions, so I just had to add one for this wonderful, amazing book. I bought this for my 9 year old son who has a reading age of 16 - never an easy combination to buy for as he doesn't enjoy 9-year old themes but older teen books need careful scrutiny before I give them to him. This book is utterly enchanting. It has adult themes of loss and redemption wrapped up in a delightful and safe story for children. Adults will get as much from this book as children - it brought tears to my eyes. Michael Morpurgo never disappoints and if you are new to his books then this is a very good place to start working through his incredible body of fiction.