Running Wild

Micheal Morpurgo is an author who likes to include animals in his story. Most of the time, they are animals that are endangered and there is a message.

This book begins with some unfortunate events delivered to a nine-year old boy- Will. Before, Will was probably the most happiest child in the world. He had loving parents, caring friends and understanding grandparents who owns a farm where Will adored. The first bad news was that his father, who went to war in Iraq, was killed in action. This lead to the death of his mother. His grandma decided to send Will and his mother to Indonesia (his mothers birth place) to settle themselves down. While Will was riding an elephant (Oona), Oona raced into the jungle without any hestitation. She had a valid reason. A tsunami had reached the coasts of Indonesia on Boxing Day 2004. Unfortunately, Wills mother was drowned in the sea. Will had a new experience in the jungle. With leeches feeding on his blood and insects crawling around him, it was impossible to sleep. Plus, all sorts of sounds were heard from every creature. Luckily, Will was an optimistic child and believed that his mother survived the tsunami. However, in reality, the heart breaking news were true. She was dead. He was an orphan. But he did not know that. His only family was Oona, the elephant that saved his life. It took a while for Will to get used to the noise, the pests and Oona doing what pleases her. Oona had her own way of communicating- that was through the eyes and her gas. Together, they had many adventures such as: the time when hunters came and shot orang-utans and tiger and kidnapped Will and a few new born orang-utans. They were treated like rubbish. They were dragged, put in cages and thrown all over the place. Mister Anthony (the one who was responsible), wanted to murder Will because he knew too many things. If Will escaped, Anthony would be in prison. With the help of Kaya, a cook, he and the orang-utans escaped successfully. Soon, Will found a woman who sheltered orang-utans in the rainforest. She seemed to know everything about Will- even his name! Finally, she told him his story. His Grandparents searched for Will all over the rainforest. The woman met them and heard their story. As soon as she saw Will, she knew Will was the poor boy known all over the world. When his grandparents arrive to take Will back, he rejects and says that the rainforest is his home. They all stay in Indonesia in unison.

This story is a true story. There was a tsunami in Indonesia at this time and there was a war in Iraq. It was the womans idea to publish this story. Will agreed. Therefore this story is now told to us. This story is a touching story. Again, it conveys a message to stop destroying nature.