The young boy enjoys regularly visiting his Grandpa, especially during the summer, and imagining himself driving the old green Fordson tractor in the back of the barn.

When the Grandfather was a child he prioritised helping out on the farm with his Father as the Corporal had a lasting leg injury from the war and found it difficult to keep up with the work to be done.

The Grandpa's wife attempted to teach him to read and write years later, after the protagonist's mother and her siblings had left the farm, but unfortunately died unexpectedly from a weak heart.

In a surprising turn of events Medlicott accidentally tips the tractor over into a ditch, allowing Grandpa to just barely pull ahead and win.

This leads the protagonist to deciding to study engineering at college, before returning to the farm to live and work there while also fixing up the tractor so it is one day usable again.

[2] Morpurgo said he was persuaded to write the sequel by his frequent collaborator, British author and illustrator, Michael Foreman, who proposed the story to be "about how tractors changed the face of farming".

[4] Jana Siciliano from Teenreads wrote that the novel "is perfect for a young adventurous reader who loves history, animals and family stories all put together.

[5] In her review for The Booklist, Hazel Rochman noted that "with black-and-white illustrations in watercolor and pencil on every page, the first-person narratives tell of the rich bonds across generations, the warmth of farm life, and the power of words".

[7] Kirkus Reviews opined that "Foreman focuses on the flashbacks, depicting rural and wartime scenes with faded colors; although the grandfather and the narrator, who has grown into young manhood by the end, appear only occasionally, their warm mutual regard for one another comes through clearly, anchoring this expertly crafted reminder that stories can link generations".

She summed up her review stating, "in the end, the very bareness of the piece, its reliance on the power of words alone, is a reminder that theatre doesn't always need puppets and effects to hold the attention".