- Kensuke's Kingdom
"Kensuke's Kingdom" is a novel by
Michael Morpurgo , published in 1999.Plot summary
The novel tells of a young boy, Michael, whose parents are made redundant. They decide to travel around the world on the yacht 'Peggy Sue'. When he is on lookout one night, steering the boat, Michael and his dog, Stella Artois, are washed overboard. They awake to discover that they are stranded on a desert island in the Pacific Ocean.
While Michael is struggling to survive on the island, food is regularly left for him. To his surprise, he learns that an old man called Kensuke is also living on the island. Kensuke helps Michael to survive. He sets guidelines that Michael thinks are just annoyances. When he is nearly killed by a giant jellyfish, Kensuke tends to and eventually befriends him. Michael teaches Kensuke English, and Kensuke in turn teaches Michael how to paint, how to fish and where to find the best food and water. He is eventually revealed to be a doctor and survivor of
WW II , and he believes that his family died in Nagasaki after the atomic bomb was dropped there onAugust 9th 1945 . Michael leaves when his parents are spotted on the horizon, and Kensuke stays to look after the forest animals.Reviews
Courtney-"I Read This In Year 6 For Test Even Tho It Was For Educational Purposes I Loved Reading It (Y) x"
Awards
"Kensuke's Kingdom" won the
Red House Children's Book Award in 2000.
Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.
