Ever since the very first Best-Picture Oscar went to a war drama called Wings, the Academy has shown plenty of love to films that use war as a backdrop, to tell us stories about history, heroes, and humanity - movies like War Horse, the epic World War One drama about a young man and his loyal steed.

Before Steven Spielberg made the story into an Oscar contender, it was a London stage play; before that it was a relatively unknown book.

British children's author Michael Morpurgo penned the story 30 years ago. Like most of his work, it was critically acclaimed, but didn't sell well. Luckily, for Michael, it's never been about making the bestsellers' list. He started out as a grade-school teacher, but when he realized most of his students' books were, well, not that great, he started to write them himself.

His goal: to teach kids the value of love, loyalty, and the futility of war.