Children's Books by Michael Morpurgo

Michael Morpurgo books are incredibly popular in schools. I was recently talking to a school librarian, who claimed that children's books by Michael Morpurgo were among the most read books in the entire school. Children of ages 8 - 11 seem to particularly enjoy books by Michael Morpurgo.

Of all of the books written by Michael Morpurgo, Kensuke's Kingdom stands out as a fantastic piece of writing. I believe that this Michael Morpurgo book will stand the test of time and will go on to become one of the classic children's books. The story is about a boy called Michael. It is written in the first person (like most books by Michael Morpurgo), and it details Michael's time spent marooned on a desert island. The key feature of this Michael Morpurgo book is the relationship between Michael and the island's only other resident, Kensuke. I have not met a single person who has not enjoyed this Michael Morpurgo book. It is really well written and it is genuinely moving.

In addition to being an enjoyable children's book to read, Kensuke's Kingdom is a great book to use as the basis for further work in the classroom. I have seen children complete the following Michael Morpurgo and Kensuke's Kingdom-related tasks:
  • Write a letter to Michael Morpurgo
  • Prodce a profile or factfile about Michael Morpurgo
  • Research other books written by Michael Morpurgo
  • Write a message in a bottle from Michael to his parents
  • Produce a page from Michael's journal
  • Devise a new cover for a Michael Morpurgo book
  • Browse the library for other children's books by Michael Morpurgo
  • Draw a labelled diagram of the setting of Kensuke's Kingdom
  • Re-write a scene from the book from Kensuke's perspective

These are just a few ideas: the list could go on and on.

Apart from Kensuke's Kingdom, there are lots of other books by Michael Morpurgo that are worth reading (such as War Horse and The Butterfly Lion), but I'll leave the discussion about these Michael Morpurgo books for another post.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

I Like Kensukes Kingdom :)