Title: Running Wild
Author: Michael Morpurgo
Genre: Memoir
Will is riding an elephant along the beach, when a tsunami comes and it runs off into the jungle.
Will spends a year there, the elephant protecting and caring for him. He learns how to live in the wild, and befriends some animals. One day Will and some baby orangutans are captured and taken to a village where they are tortured. Someone helps him escape and he runs off into the jungle. There he finds his elephant again, and the orangutans find their mother, who leads them to an orangutan sanctuary. There he stays forever. Running Wild.
I think the main message of this book is to forget the past and focus on today and the future. In this book Will loses his mother and has already lost his father. At the start of the book he often cries about it, but as his life carries on he learns to forget about his parents and focus on the days ahead. This book has a few other small messages like be brave and be grateful for what you've got. I don’t think the author was totally aware that he put these messages in, but to me they were very clear.
At the start of this book, it is set in England but then Will goes on holiday to Indonesia, and it is set on the beach before going in to the jungle, where it stays set till the end. I think the the author described all these places very well. Just enough to allow me to use my imagination and fill in the gaps. The settings definitely contributed to the story line. If the book was set anywhere else it would have been completely different. For example if his holiday in Indonesia wasn't by the beach he wouldn't have been riding an elephant, and he wouldn't have known the tsunami was coming. He would have died. I think the settings change the mood, and I think they change Will.
The main character is obviously Will. At the start of the book he is quite tidy, but he takes some things for granted. He is kind and caring, but has a rather short temper. As you get further into the book he changes, and becomes more grateful and kind. At the end of the book he is very strong, but is rather messy, as he hasn't had a haircut in a year. I think that Will has a very interesting personality. He is very intelligent, but tends to do things without thinking. He is a fast learner and quickly unlocks the key to survival. Overall all he is a very smart boy whose actions usually pay off.
I think the language the author used was rather modern and complimented the story line very well. It was very easy to understand. If it was written any other way I think it would have been really confusing. The author described everything very well, and because it was written in first person, he described Will’s feelings as well. He didn't use very many similes or other things to add impact. I think that maybe more of those would have made it better.
I loved this story. I think it was very gripping and from the first page to the last page it held my interest. This was because at the start it was very sad and I really wanted to see what would happen to the boy. I wasn't sure whether it was going to have a very happy ending or not. I think that it would be impossible to leave this book half read. Another thing that held my interest was the fact that there were no unnecessary words, so I never got bored.
Overall, I really enjoyed this book and would definitely recommend it to anyone that likes memoirs. It was written very well and I can just about guarantee that I will read it again.
Brooke Rm 3
