Kensuke's Kingdom

Michael Morpurgo

Scholastic Inc., 2003 - Juvenile Fiction - 164 pages

A spellbinding tale of survival and self-discovery from award-winning author Michael Morpurgo, who is poised for breakthrough U.S. success.

When Michael's parents lose their jobs, they buy a boat and decide to sail around the world with their son and their beloved dog. It's an ideal trip - until Michael is swept overboard. He's washed up on an island, where he struggles to survive. Then he discovers that he's not alone. His fellow-castaway, Kensuke, keeps his distance at first. But when Michael's life is threatened, he slowly lets the boy into his world. The two teach and learn from each other until, inevitably, they must part ways.

What people are saying

KENSUKE'S KINGDOM

User Review  - Jane Doe - Kirkus

More adventure than ordeal, this survival tale will fit the bill for thoughtful readers discomfited by extreme violence or gross details. To Michael, the round-the-world sail he's taking with his ...

User Review -

that's not all of it .

Contents

• Peggy Sue: 1
• Water water everywhere: 18
• Ships log: 25
• Gibbons and ghosts: 42
• I Kensuke: 66
• Abunai: 82
• All that silence said: 96
• Everyone dead in Nagasaki: 115
• The night of the turtles: 129
• Killer men come: 144
• Postscript: 162
• Glossary: 164

About the author

British author Michael Morpurgo was born in St. Albans, Hertforshire in 1943. He attended the University of London and studied English and French. He became a primary school teacher in Kent for about ten years. He and his wife Clare started a charity called Farms for City Children. They currently own three farms where over 2000 children a year stay for a week and experience the countryside by taking part in purposeful farmwork. He has published over 100 books and several screenplays. He won the 1995 Whitbread Children's Book Award for The Wreck of the Zanzibar, the 1996 Nestle Smarties Book Prize for The Butterfly Lion, and the 2000 Children's Book Award for Kensuke's Kingdom. Private Peaceful won the 2005 Red House Children's Book Award and the Blue Peter Book of the Year Award. Five of his books have been made into movies and two have been adapted for television. He was named as the third Children's Laureate in May 2003.

Bibliographic information

• Title: Kensuke's Kingdom
• Author: Michael Morpurgo
• Publisher: Scholastic Inc., 2003
• ISBN: 0439382025, 9780439382021
• Length: 164 pages
• Subjects: Juvenile Fiction / Action & Adventure / General