War Horse Lit Link Grades 7-8

Powerful events filled with emotion, tragedy, and suffering during World War I are told through an animal narrator. The strong anti-war message will leave a long-lasting impact on your students while the activities in this lit link will guide their learning. Reproducible chapter questions, and additional activities in vocabulary, word study, grammar, and personal development are designed according to research-based educational principles to improve literacy skills in communication, critical thinking, social studies, and more. Plus a story summary, author biography, and answer key.

About the Novel: Joey, a gangling six-month-old colt, is sold to an English farmer at an auction. Albert, the farmer's son, grows to love Joey and a strong bond develops between them. After World War 1 breaks out, Albert's father sells Joey to the army in order to pay his mortgage on his farm. During his career as a warhorse, Joey is forced to carry riders into battle, pull artillery, and carts full of wounded soldiers. During Joey's struggle to survive, Albert never stops hoping that they will be reunited.



Reproducible chapter questions, and additional activities in vocabulary, word study, grammar, and personal development are designed according to research-based educational principles to improve literacy skills in communication, critical thinking, social studies, and more. Plus a story summary, author biography, and answer key.



Learning Expectations:

• To introduce students to the writings of Michael Morpurgo.

• To make students aware of the effects that World War I made on people, countries, and animals.

• To provide students with a reading experience in which the narrator is an animal.

• To provide practice in a wide variety of reading, writing, and grammar skills.

• To have students discover and interpret new vocabulary and colloquial expressions.