The Silver Swan
by Michael Morpurgo Author
(From Amazon): A boy living by a Scottish loch sees a beautiful silver swan land on the water. She remains at the loch, mates and there are soon five cygnets too. The boy watches them in awe and pride. When snowy winter sets in, all the birds and animals around the loch must scavenge desperately for food. The fox also has cubs to feed...A remarkably dramatic and compassionate story about Nature, magnificently told and stunningly illustrated with sweeping pastel landscapes.
Additional Details
- Resource Type
- Book
- ISBN
- 0-552-54614-3
- Print Status
- In Print
- Pages
- 32
- Suggested Grades
- 1st
- Publisher
- Corgi Childrens
- Copyright
- 2001
User Reviews
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Reviewed by Parent/Teacher
This is both a deep and beautiful story. Well illustrated in soft pastels. Our children love this story and I will continue to recommend it as one of our favorites. Contrary to other reviews, I believe that death and so called violence amongst animals (depicted as pure survival here) is actually sensitively and beautifully portrayed in this story. We have very sensitive children, and they were not troubled by the story. Yes, there is a part that is very sad, where the swan dies, but death is a reality of life and it is dealt with better than I have seen it done in movies and on TV. There you'll find horrific scenes, that'll give nightmares. Must we avoid tearful stories with our children? I think these stories better prepare them for when these tragic events really do happen. I live in Africa, and think that one must actually see these things to appreciate sanctity of life, the preciousness of nature and all the species. The plight of the fox as well as the swans is well presented in the story. The Silver Swan is not "violent", it is a moving and poignant tale of relationship between a swan and a young nature lover.