#54 in Children’s books
War Horse
- 176
- Pages
- about 3 h
- Reading time
- Film 2011
- On screen
Affiliate link: buying through it supports BookRank at no extra cost to you.
Our view
“War Horse” is a moving First World War story told by a horse, often counted among Michael Morpurgo’s best books. Joey, sold to the army and sent to France, narrates his own war while Albert, his fifteen-year-old former owner, tries to bring him home. Seeing the war through an animal’s eyes strikes some readers as fresh; others admit it brought them to tears. Short enough to share with older children.
The view of the BookRank editors, written from readers’ ratings and comments. It does not affect the score or the book’s place in a ranking.
About the book
War Horse is a British war novel by Michael Morpurgo. It was first published in Great Britain by Kaye & Ward in 1982. The story recounts the experiences of Joey, a horse bought by the Army for service in World War I in France and the attempts of 15-year-old Albert, his previous owner, to bring him safely home. It formed the basis of both an award-winning play (2007) and an acclaimed film adaptation (2011) by Steven Spielberg. The novel is often considered one of Morpurgo's best works, and its success spawned a sequel titled Farm Boy, which was published in October 1997.
On screen
This book has been adapted for the screen once.
- FilmWar HorseIMDb
Adaptation data: Wikidata · On screen →
Where the score comes from
The sources average 8.2 across 66 ratings — not yet many, so the reader vote carries 31% of the weight and the rest pulls toward the Rankings average of 8.0. That is how 8.1 comes out.
| Source | Average | Ratings | Weight |
|---|---|---|---|
| Open Library | 8.8 | 13 | 20% |
| Hardcover | 8.0 | 53 | 80% |
Frequently asked
What age is War Horse for?
War Horse sits on the Children shelf in the sources we use, which by convention means roughly ages 5–10. This is a guide from the book’s category, not a publisher’s age rating.
In this book
Themes this book shares with others — each leads to the best books on it.