Out of the Ashes: Part 1

By MICHAEL MORPURGO

An introduction I want you to read:

This story is not a story at all. It all happened. I know because I was there. I lived it. I saw it with my own eyes. It was a time of my life I can never forget. I wrote it just as a private diary. Dad gave me a lovely leather-bound diary for my thirteenth birthday last year. It's peacock blue with a brass clip. I'm one of those few unlucky people whose birthday falls on Christmas Day, so whilst I might not get as many presents as my friends, mine are usually very special. And this was my most special present of all last year, mostly because Dad had had my name, Becky Morely, printed in gold on the front, and underneath, "My diary 2001". And best of all, he'd done a drawing on the first page of Ruby -- Ruby's my horse. She's bay, with a dark mane and tail, part Connemara, part throroughbred. I used to think she was the most important thing in the world to me.

Publisher: Macmillan

Price: $14.95

Age group: 8-12 yrs