THE MARBLE CRUSHER

By Michael Morpurgo

Synopsis

This collection of stories starts with Albert who believes everything he is told. Even that the headmaster of his new school has an awful machine in his office that grinds confiscated marbles into dust!

Sample Player

Narrator	Rosemary Cross
Length	1hr
Catalogue No.	616355
Publisher	Egmont Children's Books

Other audiobooks by Michael Morpurgo

ALONE ON A WIDE WIDE SEA

Orphaned Arthur Hobhouse is shipped to Australia after World War II and has to leave everything behind, including his sister. Over the years Arthur endures many hardships but his love of the sea sustains him. When Arthur builds a solo yacht for his daughter, Allie, she sails to England in search of her father's long lost sister.

THE AMAZING STORY OF ADOLPHUS TIPS

It's 1943, and Lily Tregenze lives on a farm, in the seaside village of Slapton. Apart from the 'townie' evacuees at school, her life is scarcely touched by the war. Until one day, Lily and her family, along with the other villagers, are told to move out of their homes. But Tips, Lily's adored cat, has other ideas – barbed wire and the danger of guns and bombs mean nothing to her. Lily decides to cross the wire into the danger zone to look for Tips herself…

ARTHUR, HIGH KING OF BRITAIN

A composite version of all the legends of King Arthur, retold from King Arthur's own point of view.

BILLY THE KID

Billy is mad about football and always has been. Here the Chelsea Pensioner looks back on his life, football, playing football for Chelsea F C, his wartime experiences in the army and more football.

BORN TO RUN

For Best Mate, being rescued from drowning as a young puppy is only the start of his adventures. From unwanted burden to favourite companion, and from pet to champion race dog, this remarkable greyhound proves that it’s not just cats who have more than one life.

BOY GIANT: SON OF GULLIVER

War has forced Omar and his mother to leave their home in Afghanistan and venture across the sea to Europe. When their boat sinks, and Omar finds himself alone, with no hope of rescue, it seems as if his story has come to an end. But it is only just beginning. Because in the end, a little hope makes a big difference…

THE BUTTERFLY LION

Bertie rescues an orphaned white lion cub from the African veld, but they are separated when Bertie is sent away to school in England.

DEAR OLLY

Shocked by the plight of children in war torn Africa, Matt decides to abandon his family and university to go to Africa. His sister Olly is left to continue with their observations on a family of swallows who would be leaving soon, also to go to Africa.

AN EAGLE IN THE SNOW

1940: A train is under attack from German fighters. Sheltering in a tunnel, the stranger in the carriage with Barney and his mother tells them a story of a young soldier in the trenches of World War I who, on the spur of the moment, did what he thought was the right thing. It turned out to have been the worst mistake he could have ever made – and one which he must put right before it is too late.

ESCAPE FROM SHANGRI-LA

Grandfather is moody, forgetful and clumsy, but Cassie loves him. So when he is sent off to Shangri-La, an old people's home, she is determined to help him escape.

FRIEND OR FOE

Evacuated from London, David and Tucky feel like the war is a long way away from their new life in the countryside. Then one night their new-found peace is shattered when a German bomber crashes. The boys feel they should hate the airmen inside. But one of them saves David's life…

THE GHOST OF GRANIA O'MALLEY

Jessie and her cousin Jack join forces with the ghost to prevent the islanders claiming the gold that lies at the heart of the Big Hill.

I BELIEVE IN UNICORNS

Tomas hates school, hates books and hates stories. Forced to visit the library, he stops to listen to magical tales that the Unicorn Lady spins. These tales draw him in and are about to change the course of his life for ever... Set against the backdrop of war-torn Europe, I Believe in Unicorns explores the power of stories to transform lives.

JEMIMA THE PIG AND THE 127 ACORNS

When a young boy goes from the city to stay on the farm, he discovers a world he never knew existed - a world of vegetable gardens, ducks and geese, where the sheep graze in the fields, where apples and pears grow in the orchard. He also meets Jemima the pig: she smells and she slobbers, she breaks out of her pen to steal potatoes, and she’s the undisputed queen of the farm. Soon, he’s hiding acorns in his pockets to feed to her every time he sees her. But then, Jemima starts to feel ill. Could she have eaten too many acorns? Or does this queen of a pig have a secret? This is a World Book Day 2022 title.

JOAN OF ARC

Eloise is fascinated by the story of Joan of Arc. One day, like Joan, she hears a voice which tells her the story of Joan of Arc as it really happened.

KENSUKE'S KINGDOM

After being shipwrecked Michael is struggling to survive alone on a Pacific island. Unable to find food and water, he curls up to die. When he awakes he finds food and drink beside him and realises that he is not alone!

KING OF THE CLOUD FORESTS

The year is 1941 and Ashley leaves his father to embark on a journey from China to escape the Japanese invasion. He carries out the dangerous journey across the Himalayas with his uncle.

LISTEN TO THE MOON

May, 1915. Alfie and his fisherman father find a girl on an uninhabited island in the Scillies, lost and with no memory of who she is, or how she came to be there. Where has she come from? Is she a mermaid, the victim of a German U-boat, or even – as some islanders suggest – a German spy…?

LITTLE FOXES

The only place Billy feels alive is by the canal watching a cygnet and a family of fox cubs. Here he can forget about the bullies at school, but when his secret place is discovered and the fox family decimated, Bill and the last fox cub run for their lives.

LITTLE MANFRED

In the Imperial War Museum is a wooden Dachshund, carved by a German prisoner of war for the children of the British family with which he stayed after the fighting ended. This is the story of how it got there!

A MEDAL FOR LEROY

Michael doesn't remember his father, an RAF pilot lost in the war. His French mother, heartbroken and passionate, doesn't like to talk about her husband. But then Auntie Snowdrop gives Michael a medal, followed by a photograph, which begin to reveal a hidden story that will change everything - and reveal to Michael who he really is.

MR NOBODY'S EYES

Life for Harry becomes unbearable when his mother remarries and his baby brother is born, so he decides to run away with Ocky, a chimpanzee from the circus. But who will rescue Harry and Ocky when their lives are in danger?

THE NINE LIVES OF MONTEZUMA

Montezuma, the farmyard cat survives nine lives of danger and adventure. As he grows from fiery kitten to grand old tomcat he is always special, independent and a law unto himself.

OUT OF THE ASHES

When Becky Morley started to write in her diary in January 2001 she didn't realise that her life would soon change. In February Foot and Mouth disease broke out in England and quickly reached Devon, but would it infect the farm Becky lived on?

PRIVATE PEACEFUL

Thomas Peaceful is a young soldier looking back at his childhood from the battlefields of the First world War. But even as he remembers how things used to be something happens that will change his life forever.

THE PUFFIN KEEPER

It was Benjamin Postlethwaite's job all his long life to make sure the light shone brightly high up in the lighthouse on Puffin Island. Not once, in all his years as the lighthouse keeper, had he ever let his light go out. But sometimes even the brightest light on a lighthouse cannot save a ship.This is a story of a life-changing friendship, a lost puffin and a lonely artist. It's the story of an entire lifetime and how one event can change a life forever.

ROBIN OF SHERWOOD

A boy of today finds a human skull beneath a giant oak tree and is taken back to the time of Robin Hood.

RUNNING WILD

When 10-year-old Will's father dies in the Iraq war, his mother surprises him with a trip to Indonesia. He is riding Oona the elephant on the beach when a tsunami wave comes crashing in and Oona begins to run. With nothing but the shirt on his back and a bottle of water, Will must learn to survive deep in the jungle.

THE SANDMAN AND THE TURTLES

On their summer holidays in Wales, Michael and his little cousin Polly are told magical tales by an old Russian sea captain. Polly believes every word and is determined to make them all come true.

SHADOW

When Shadow, a bomb-sniffing spaniel, goes missing in the middle of wartorn Afghanistan, his soldier-owner is devastated. Meanwhile, Shadow makes friends with a local Afghan boy, and sees a whole other side of the war. As Christmas draws ever closer, will Shadow and his trainer ever be reunited?

THE SILVER SWAN

One moonlit night a boy sees a swan arrive on a lake near his home. After befriending her he watches through the seasons as she finds a mate and starts a family.

THE SLEEPING SWORD

Bun Bendle is struggling to come to terms with life after being blinded in an accident. One day he stumbles into an underground tomb containing an ancient sword and shield. As he touches the sword he is gripped by an incredible power that will change his life forever.

TORO! TORO!

Antonito lives on his parents' bull farm in Andalucia. He hand-rears and befriends Paco, a bull calf. When he realises that Paco is destined for the struggle of the bullring he leads him to safety in the mountains, where their lives are changed by the civil war.

TOTO: THE DOG-GONE AMAZING STORY OF THE WIZARD OF OZ

A charming retelling of the classic story of The Wizard of Oz, told through the eyes of Toto the dog. All the favourites are there: Dorothy, the Tin Man, the Scarecrow and the Lion, in a tale that is wonderfully familiar, but full of surprises too!

TWIST OF GOLD

Ireland is stricken by the potato famine, and Annie and Sean O'Brien are sent to search for their father in America. Ill-equipped for such a journey, they won't give up without a fight, and this is the tale of their thrilling adventures on their journey from Cork to California.

WAR HORSE

Told from the point of view of Joey, a young farm horse who witnesses the reality of battle in the First World War , this is a powerful story of the strength of friendship in terrible situations. Joey's courage in the face of battle impresses all around him.

WHY THE WHALES CAME

The Birdman warns Gracie and Daniel to stay away from Samson Island because it is cursed! Can he be right?

THE WRECK OF THE ZANZIBAR

It is 1907 and life on the Scilly Isles is bleak and difficult. A violent storm brings an unexpected harvest to the island and Laura's family.