Kensuke’s Kingdom This is one of sixteen resources that you can use with your class to celebrate Michael Morpurgo Month in February, or to explore books from the world famous author at any other time of the year. Each resource is built around an extract but also shares some of the key themes from the complete story that make the book such a rich and enjoyable text to share with your class. The extracts can be read with the class using the accompanying PowerPoints, and there are teacher notes and pupil challenges to help children develop their own story-writing skills. This activity looks at how to write evocative descriptions.
Kensuke’s Kingdom “I heard the wind above me in the sails. I remember thinking, this is silly, you haven’t got your safety harness on, you haven’t got your lifejacket on. You shouldn’t be doing this . . . I was in the cold of the sea before I could even open my mouth to scream.” Washed up on an island in the Pacific, Michael struggles to survive on his own. With no food and no water, he curls up to die. When he wakes, there is a plate beside him of fish, of fruit, and a bowl of fresh water. He is not alone…
Themes and ideas Kensuke’s Kingdom is a popular book, read and studied in many primary classrooms. As well as a gripping story told in a beautiful way, its popularity owes much to the opportunity it provides to explore big ideas that resonate with children. When reading the whole text, there are a number of themes and ideas that could be discussed with children, including: Friendship Strange circumstances mean that Michael and Kensuke have the chance to become friends in the book, looking after one another, and enjoying each other’s company.
Key discussion questions: • Do you think Michael and Kensuke would have become friends if they had met in different circumstances? • How do they learn to trust each other? • Which moment in the book almost destroys their friendship and how is it repaired? Hope and belief Michael holds on to the hope that he will survive despite being shipwrecked and that he will escape the island. Michael’s parents also never give up hope and search from island to island looking for him. Key discussion questions: • How hard is it for Michael to keep believing he will return home? • What keeps him going? Of course, other themes and ideas might emerge from reading and discussing the book: survival against the odds, ecology and caring for living things, communication, as well as the chance to enjoy a wonderful story.
Using the resource This resource shares an extract from the story where Michael has climbed to the top of a hill and is looking down on the island he has been washed up on. After reading the text, there is a set of short teaching activities considering writing evocative descriptions. There is also a sheet with a storytelling challenge based on the extract. For Kensuke’s Kingdom it focuses on descriptive writing. This could be used as a short classroom activity or as homework to consolidate the learning from the teaching session. After reading and discussing the extract hopefully some children will be inspired to read the book itself. You could read it aloud as a class novel or direct children to where they can find a copy to read themselves: the book corner, school library, local library or bookshop.
Teacher’s notes for the PowerPoint Slide 2 Share the front cover and blurb to introduce the book and give context. If you are reading the whole novel as a class, the activities in this resource begin on p. 53, so read up until this point first. Ask if anyone has read this book before. Does the blurb make you want to read on? Slide 3 Tell the children that Michael has been shipwrecked on an island and has climbed on to a hill to look around. This extract describes what Michael can see from his vantage point. Read aloud together (either with the teacher reading aloud and children following, children reading together as a class or children reading together in pairs) and then ask children to give a brief summary, answering the following: •
What are the main features of the island?
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How does Michael feel?
How does Michael Morpurgo create an image of the island in this extract? How does he capture its beauty? Children can discuss in pairs or small groups before feeding back to the class. They might mention: •
Well-chosen noun phrases (“the extraordinary beauty of the place”; “a long swathe of brilliant white beach”)
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Specific adjectives (“wonderful”, “silken”, “shimmering”)
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The metaphor (“a green jewel of an island”)
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Alliteration (“sea”, “silken”, “shimmering”)
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The contrast between the beauty of the island and the seriousness of Michael’s situation (“filled with apprehension”; “my dreadful situation”; “how wonderful it was”)
Slide 4 Tell the children that they are going to practise describing a place which could feature in their own storytelling. In pairs, children can describe their place. Remind them that they could use the techniques they have seen Michael Morpurgo use in the extract: •
Well-chosen noun phrases
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Specific adjectives
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Metaphors
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Alliteration
They can then try to use these descriptions as part of their own storytelling or writing.