The Butterfly Lion: Michael Morpurgo

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The Butterfly Lioncombines music, design and puppetry to bring a magical adventure to life: celebrating nature, friendship and the triumph of love. This book, The Butterfly Lion, is such a wonderful story. It's about a boy called Bertie. He lives with his parents, on a remote farm in the wild countryside of South Africa.

urn:lcp:butterflylion0000morp_i3d4:epub:7c3c426e-6644-4d29-a39d-d91f91336277 Foldoutcount 0 Identifier butterflylion0000morp_i3d4 Identifier-ark ark:/13960/t9k45wk5m Invoice 1652 Isbn 0001006614In November 2016 Michael Morpurgo won the J M Barrie Award for his contribution to children’s literature.This award is given every year by Action for Children’s Arts to a “children’s arts practitioner” whose lifetime’s work has delighted children and will stand the test of time.

In one, a modern boarding school, the children could compare their improved experiences to Bertie’s hardships in a spartan bygone setting. In another, the vivid descriptions of Africa transformed grey windswept days of an urban Autumn term, and in the third, the descriptions of school food and chilblains fascinated the children and engaged their parents and grandparents who would delight in telling of their own memories. Bertie wanted to run away from his boarding school in Wiltshire to London. On a map can you find Wiltshire? London? David Wood, chair of Action for Children’s Arts, said Morpurgo is “one of our greatest storytellers”. While I wouldn't say this is an exciting book is covers a lot of exciting issues and keeps readers with a variety of interest hooked.

A son and grandson of actors, Michael has acting in his blood and enjoys collaborating and performing live adaptations of his books at festivals, concerts and theatres. Emotion/Emoji Word Bank: Create a word bank of emotion-related words (e.g., joyful, worried, excited) on the board, linking them to corresponding emojis. Ask children to rate the books they read based on their emotions. The inspiring magic of a white lion brings friendship and hope to a lonely ten year old. Miserable at his boarding school, Bertie runs away. He is rescued by a kind old lady who tells him of how another Bertie, a little boy from a long time before, saved an orphaned lion cub in Africa. The symbol of the white lion becomes an emblem of hope as well as a link across generations. Michael Morpurgo is skilful in weaving together magical and real stories. ~ Julia Eccleshare Before he leaves South Africa, Bertie promises, that one day, no matter what it takes, he will find his lion again. Do you think he does? Well... Many years later, a school-boy discovers the answer, when he sees another lion, on the side of a hill in England. Morpurgo added: “Storymakers and storytellers like Barrie, and like all the previous winners of this award, have given us the hope and faith children need, we need, to keep flying, have sustained us through dark and troubled times, have banished doubt. To touch the lives of children, to witness their listening and reading silence, is reward enough in itself. This is simply the icing on the cake.”

Later, when fighting in France in the First World War, he saves two men's lives and is given a Victoria Cross. Millie, who has become a nurse in the hopes of finding Bertie, reads about him in a newspaper and the two are reunited. Together they discover that Monsieur Merlot's circus has closed down, but that the Frenchman lives nearby with the lion. Bertie had grown up in South Africa and one day found and saved a white lion cub. The book, I was happy to discover, takes its time showing us Bertie's life in Africa, how lonely he was, and then how his friendship with the lion blossomed and he learned about companionship. Try to research the place ‘Timbavati’, where Bertie was born. What is the environment like there? Who lives there? What is there to do in the local area? How is it similar / different to where you were born?You can also read about his life in War Child to War Horse,a collaborative biography with Maggie Fergusson. Write / tell one of the stories that the men might share when they come home from their time away guarding the cattle. What predictions or connections can you make between the lion in South Africa and the lion that Bertie sees on the hillside in England based on what Natalie said? Michael Morpurgo has thrilled and delighted huge numbers of young readers since becoming a children’s author in the early 1970s," Wood said. "Action for Children’s Arts is delighted to recognise Michael’s outstanding contribution by presenting him with the J M Barrie Award 2016. His work will undoubtedly, like Peter Pan, stand the test of time, making him a truly worthy recipient of this award." Based on Michael Morpurgo’s best-selling novel, which won the Smarties Prize and the Writers’ Guild Award, this new stage adaptation is written by CFT’s Writer-in-Residence Anna Ledwich and directed by Dale Rooks whose many Chichester productions include The Midnight Gang(2018) and Running Wild (2015).

and between the lion cub and the hyenas, shouting at them to go away. They didn't. They stood and watched, uncertain for a while, then they began to circle again. Closer. Closer. Michael's books have been translated into many languages including Chinese, Bulgarian and Hungarian, Hebrew and Japanese. He travels all over the UK and abroad talking to people of all ages at literary festivals, telling his stories and encouraging them to tell theirs. Use drama techniques (e.g. conscience corridor) to discuss why Bertie’s family should / shouldn’t sell the lion to the circus owner. Watch this video for some ideas:The old lady says that ‘true stories do not always end just as we would wish them to’. Do you prefer to hear the truth or something made up that keeps you happy?