Alien Invasion!

Mudpuddle Farm

by Michael Morpurgo, Shoo Rayner (Illustrations)

Join the fun on the farm!


A charming story from award-winning author Michael Morpurgo, hilariously illustrated throughout by Shoo Rayner, and perfect for readers of 5 and up.


Two funny farmyard stories for younger readers.


Martians at Mudpuddle Farm:
Have Martians landed on Mudpuddle Farm? Farmer Rafferty seems to think so. Now it’s up to Albertine, Goose Queen, to work it out. Luckily she’s the cleverest goose in the whole world, so if anyone knows what to do, she will…


Mum’s the Word:
Something strange is going on at Mudpuddle Farm. Egbert the goat is not himself at all. Instead of grumbling, he’s singing and dancing! And he’s even greedier than usual…

144 pages, Paperback

Published June 5, 2018

About the author

Sir Michael Andrew Morpurgo, OBE, FRSL is the author of many books for children, five of which have been made into films. He also writes his own screenplays and libretti for opera. Born in St Albans, Hertfordshire, in 1943, he was evacuated to Cumberland during the last years of the Second World War, then returned to London, moving later to Essex. After a brief and unsuccessful spell in the army, he took up teaching and started to write. He left teaching after ten years in order to set up 'Farms for City Children' with his wife. They have three farms in Devon, Wales and Gloucestershire, open to inner city school children who come to stay and work with the animals. In 1999 this work was publicly recognised when he and his wife were invested a Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) for services to youth. In 2003, he was advanced to an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE). He became a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature (FRSL) in 2004. He was knighted in the 2018 for his services to literature and charity. He is also a father and grandfather, so children have always played a large part in his life. Every year he and his family spend time in the Scilly Isles, the setting for three of his books.

Reviews

[Matt Davies · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book contains two stories about Farmer Rafferty and the animals that live on Mudpuddle Farm. Wether it is alien invasions or the strangely happy goat Egbert, Albertine, and her chorus of adoring goslings, is there for them with her helpful advice. This book makes great use of the illustrations, which are fully integrated as story telling tools, almost venturing into graphic novel territory. This greatly enhanced my enjoyment of the text and makes it much more accessible to younger readers. The stories themselves are also really fun in a way which doesn't involve meanness or cruelty, so this was a welcome relief after reading Horrid Henry. I think this book would be great for reading as a whole class or independently, and it could also be used to teach students about animals or geography (drawing maps of the farm for example).

[Aruna Kumar Gadepalli · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is the collection of two stories
1. Martians at Mudpuddle Farm
2. Mum’s the Word

Two stories are filled with fun and illustrations add more fun to the stories.

[Tuyet Truong · Rating 4 out of 5]

Witty and humorous with illustrations on every page to give it an almost comic book feel.

This is a story about a large family of animals that live on Mudpuddle Farm. Each animal has its own unique characteristic, from Diana the silly sheep to Albertine the most intelligent goose. On his first solo trip to gather pollen, Little Bee ends up getting lost, leading to a whole swarm of bees going out in search of him. All the farm animals are terrified of the bees, except for Albertine the clever goose, who leads all the animals to the middle of Farmer Rafferty's cornfield and shows them how to get rid of the bees. Albertine's method results in a huge circular patch being left in the middle of the cornfield, which the animals think that Farmer Rafferty will not be too pleased about. However, instead of being angry, Farmer Rafferty is overjoyed because he believes that the circular patch was left by Martians landing there, giving him a great money making idea.

Children who find books with a lot of text tiresome to read may find this book more enjoyable, as part of the fun is reading the humorous comments within the speech and thought bubbles of the illustrations.

[Emily · Rating 4 out of 5]

KS1 for independent readers or class read. Engaging layout of text, pictures and different fonts makes it visually appealing and breaks the text into more manageable chunks for more reluctant readers. Lovely descriptive use of language, and use of speech bubbles, so could be used to introduce the idea of including speech in writing. All is not as it seems in each story, lending amusement and an interesting twist to each tale.

[Miss Dotty · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nice fun read for the classroom, two stories in one book about fun on the farm.

[Jenna Mills · Rating 3 out of 5]

A sweet kids book. I particularly enjoyed the second story.