War Horse

War Horse is a British war novel by Michael Morpurgo, first published in Great Britain by Kaye & Ward in 1982. It is narrated by the horse, Joey, and it recounts his experiences through the First World War, when he is bought by the Army and sent to France, where he is used first by the cavalry and then for carrying and hauling.

Joey is raised on a Devon farm by Albert Narracott, and when the family sells him to the cavalry at the start of the war the boy is left behind. The novel follows the horse from one owner to the next, British, German and French, soldiers and civilians, so the reader sees the same war from several positions while Albert grows old enough to come looking for him.

Morpurgo wrote the book for children and gives the front through the eyes of an animal, which lets the cruelty and the kindness of the war arrive without commentary and keeps the book from taking a side. The horse's plain account of what he sees is the whole of the novel.