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. 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: Kensuke’s Kingdom is a thrilling adventure story from exceptional children’s writer Michael Morpurgo.

Kensuke's Kingdom is a great book to read in Upper Key Stage 2 and it explores topics such as hope, friendship and survival. Kensuke's Kingdom is a gripping adventure of survival and true friendship from the author of War Horse. 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 ] 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.

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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? 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.

An utterly magical of one boy’s desert island adventure – full of friendship, trust and humanity. From the nation’s favourite storyteller. 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.” Create a plan view of Kensuke’s cave house, using information from the book to include the correct features. 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.

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. 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. 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? 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.