Look at the map of the world, as shown in the book. Can you identify the places Michael travelled to? Can you find out more information about each place? Could you calculate the distance that he travelled?

Michael Morpurgo has written more than one hundred books for children and won the Whitbread Award, the Smarties Award, the Circle of Gold Award, the Children’s Book Award and has been short-listed for the Carnegie Medal four times. In August 2018, WildChild Productions took a theatrical adaptation of Kensuke's Kingdom by Stuart Paterson to Edinburgh Festival Fringe. [3] It featured a voiceover by Jenny Agutter. The book follows Michael, his parents and their dog on the trip of a lifetime around the world. They leave their jobs and set sail but Michael and his dog fall overboard and they wake up on a desert island. Kensuke's Kingdom is a children's novel by Michael Morpurgo, illustrated by Michael Foreman. It was first published in 1999 [1] by Egmont UK. Since then, it has been released by various other publishers, such as Scholastic. [2] Book summary [ edit ]

Michael’s father has a dream to sail around the world. Do you have a dream? What steps do you need to take to achieve it? If you could ask the author questions about the book or his work, what would you ask? Watch this video in which he shares the answers to his five most asked questions: The producing team behind Kensuke’s Kingdom is now comprised of Camilla Deakin and Ruth Fielding of Lupus Films, Sarah Radclyffe (co-founder of Working Title Films and producer of over 30 live-action films), Barnaby Spurrier ( Deadtime Stories for Big Folk, Somers Town), and Stephan Roelants of Melusine Productions. Michael got the name for the main character’s dog, Stellas Artois, from a boy who came to stay on his farm in Devon. The boy’s dog, an Alsatian, was called Stellas Artois. After some time, Michael and Kensuke start to form a bond but Michael knows he can’t stay on the island forever. After Kensuke realises how much Michael misses his family, he agrees to help him light a fire when they see the next ship. By miracle, the next ship is Michael’s parents who have been looking for him ever since he fell off the boat.

While the producers continue to build a team of production partners, Boyle and Hendry are moving forward with the development of the animatic and further production design for characters and environment. Imagine that you could interview Michael, Kensuke and / or his parents. What would you ask them? How might they respond at different points in the story?Listen to the audiobook version of the story. Could you record your own audio version or the story (or part of it)? While on his journey on the Peggy Sue, Michael uses a sextant, takes compass bearings, plots a course and fills in the longitude / latitude in the ship’s log. Can you learn how to do some (or all) of these tasks? Before reading the story, look at the chapter titles. Can you predict what might happen as the story progresses? Like Private Peaceful, War Horseand several other of Michael Morpurgo’s novels, Kensuke’s Kingdom has been turned into a play.

Kensuke's Kingdom is a gripping adventure of survival and true friendship from the author of War Horse.Turn the story (or part of it) into a playscript and perform it. Watch this video of a stage version for inspiration:

Create a plan view of Kensuke’s cave house, using information from the book to include the correct features. Kensuke's Kingdom is a great book to read in Upper Key Stage 2 and it explores topics such as hope, friendship and survival.Michael and Kensuke make a range of objects using materials from the island. Could you make your own clothes / equipment / tools using natural materials found on the ground? Michael spots a lot of amazing creatures on his adventure. Can you find out more about one (or more) of them? UK-based Lupus Films began production on an animated version of Kensuke's Kingdom in 2020. Voice actors for the animated version include Sally Hawkins, Cillian Murphy, and Ken Watanabe. Kensuke’s Kingdom has strong themes of ecological conservation and respect for the environment, including a climactic showdown with poachers who are trying to overtake the island, and directors Boyle and Hendry have spent time investigating the best approach for visualizing the natural world onscreen. They’ve come up with a solution that balances organic elements with digital compositing, and which is both unique and visually striking. Kensuke, the Japanese soldier who Michael meets on the island, is named after one of Micheal’s fans who he met at a book signing event. It’s pronounced Kensky.