Kensuke's Kingdom is a gripping adventure from the author of War Horse. 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. 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. Listen to the audiobook version of the story. Could you record your own audio version or the story (or part of it)? 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.

Create your own map of the island, using information in the book (and Michael Morpurgo’s illustrations) to help you (see Resources below). Kensuke’s Kingdom is a thrilling adventure story from exceptional children’s writer Michael Morpurgo. 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: 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? 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.

Fantasy Series We Recommend

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? Draw some sketches of the things that Michael saw during his time on the Peggy Sue, while he was on the island and inside Kensuke’s cave house.

Imagine that Michael’s log book had floated ashore on the island. Can you write some more entries in it to describe his time there? Loved by children, teachers and parents alike, Michael Morpurgo, the former Children's Laureate, has written more than forty books 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.Turn the story (or part of it) into a playscript and perform it. Watch this video of a stage version for inspiration: Added Hendry: “Something that we have been focusing on in the last few years is the creative blend of mixed media. We like to see how the things we love can inhabit the same space — the charm of 2D hand drawn characters, the depth of photoreal worlds, the character of miniature environments, matte paintings and the random nature of filmed effects footage.” 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 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 ] 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. Michael kept his promise to Kensuke. What does a promise mean? Has anyone ever asked you to keep a promise? 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. 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.

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? Before reading the story, look at the chapter titles. Can you predict what might happen as the story progresses?

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. In the epilogue, Michael publishes his story after ten years, as Kensuke asked him to do, and receives a letter from Michiya, Kensuke's son, who reveals that he and his mother did indeed avoid the Nagasaki bombing, for they went to visit their grandparents during the bombing. Michael and Michiya meet, and Michael notes that Michiya laughs just like his father did. Create a plan view of Kensuke’s cave house, using information from the book to include the correct features.Kensuke's Kingdom is a gripping adventure of survival and true friendship from the author of War Horse. 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. Imagine that you have just woken up alone on an island. Write a story that explains what happens next. As a child Michael Morpurgo enjoyed reading Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson, and although this book is very different to Kensuke’s Kingdom, they do share some common ground.