Customer Reviews

Kensuke's Kingdom

5 star:		(27)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
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I'm 44 and do not like reading. I only read a book or two a year, but my sister insisted I look at this one which she had read to my nieces. I was gripped and enthralled from nearly the beginning. What a shame that more adults do not read this kind of literature! What a shame that this book is primarily considered a children's story, when it's clearly for all ages. Of course, it is very simple. Like all things beautiful. Mr. Morpurgo, you have an amazing talent, thank you for sharing it. And unlike the other reviewer, I loved the ending. It was absolutely perfect!

The book I have chosen to review is"Kensuke's Kingdom" by Michael Morpurgo.. This book is an adventure book, about a boy aged 11 called Michael whose mum and dad sail around the world. In the middle of the journey Michael falls off the "Peggy Sue" (the name of the boat.). He lands on an island but he can't find any signs of Civilization. He begins to get hungry and thirsty and goes to sleep to die. He wakes up and mysteriously there is food and drink .Michael wonders who gave him this food .he lights a fire but an old man comes and puts it out. This man is called Kensuke, Kensuke and Michael don't get along very well. Michael is getting bitten by mosquitos and his way of soothing them was to bathe in the sea. Kensuke came and told him that he could not bathe in the sea. One day his bites hurt him so much that he goes in the sea anyway, he gets stung by a deadly jellyfish . Kensuke rescues him and heals his stings, then Kensuke and Mica (what Kensuke calls Michael) became friends and do everything together. Michael still continues to miss his parents. One day a ship comes Michael thinks it may rescue him but actually it is "The Killer Men" coming to shoot the orang-tang. Kensuke hated these men!. A few days later another ship comes, it was the "Peggy Sue". The main Characters in this book are Kensuke and Michael: Kensuke is an old sailor from Japan .He was the only survivor when his ship was bombed. He found an island and lived there . He did not return to Nagasaki, Japan (home) because he thought his wife and son had been killed in an atomic bomb. Michael is an 11 year old boy who enjoys playing football. Aboard the "Peggy Sue"he is the runner . Stella is a black and white dog ,who is Michael's companion. Michael is the narrator in this book ,.This book is written in English and occasionally there are some Japanese words eg: Abunai (meaning danger).In tis book there is not much dialogue or humour. There is quite a lot of description in this book, most of it is brought over by Kensuke's and Michael's feelings eg: "He cooked over a small fire which smoked continuously at the back of the cave, the smoke rising through a small cleft in the rocks high above-a possible reason, I thought, why there were no mosquitoes to bother me.". This book moves quickly and is divided into 10 chapters. At the end or beginning of a chapter there is an illustration.,the illustrations are done by Michael Foreman. I think you learn from this book what life would be like to be stranded on a tropical island. I think this book is griping ,the book ends a bit int the air and I think to could maybe have a sequel to it. I would recommend this book to people aged 11+, and people who like an adventurous fairytale/ real life book.

When i was forced to read this book for a quiz i thought that it would be very boring. Boy was i wrong. It is my favourite book, i have read it several times since and it is so good that each time i read it i have to read it all in one night, i can't put it down.
When Michaels parents are made redundant, they buy a boat, The Peggy Sue, and sail round the world. When they are in the pacific ocean, Michael and his dog, Stella Artois, fall over board whilst Michaels parents are asleep. They drift onto an island, but they can't find any food. Michael expects that they will die of hunger, until someone on the uninhabited island leaves them food. Who is this kind person? How will Michael get home?

I loved this book. When i read it, i really felt like i was there, in the story. I couldnt put the book down once i started to read it. The end left you stunned but the book overall is Brilliant. If you see this book, Buy it and read it. you will enjoy it.

Kensuke's Kingdom is full of excitement and adventure. Right from the beginning it caught my attention and had it until the last sentence was read. (...) I read this book over one weekend and finished it immediately after school on Monday. If you like adventure books this book is for you. The story is remenescent of Robinson Curusoe, but the English boy in the book is not left to fend for himself. He finds friendship with a Japanse man. They have many adventures together and many hardships. I felt amazed and dazzled when I finished this book. It is one of the best books I have read!

This is a good adventure book for young adolescence, read as a personal true account with an air of a story from "other times". This gives the story a large part of its charm but is also the main flaw of the book, as some of the story seems rather familiar as if you have already read or heard it in the past.
As a result of his parent's unemployment, Michael and his family leave their regular secure lives and decide to sail on a trip around the world in their yacht, the "Peggy Sue". The family has to learn to operate together not only as a family unit but also as a team whose members need to depend on each other's strength and skills. Michael learns to regard his parents in new different ways. The family enjoys this way of life in spite of hardships caused by "life at sea" which include a lot of physical inconvenience - hard work, lack of sleep, wet clothes, etc. After a few months however, the family enters a troubled period. The mother does not feel well and a storm is approaching. While his exhausted parents sleep below, Michael remains alone on board, falls to sea and is washed to a remote island. Hence starts the largest part of the story telling us about Michael's personal struggle to survive and his meeting with Kensuke who turns to be his rescuer and mentor. The remaining story centers on Kensuke's personality, his life story and Michael's miraculous rescue.
My main problem with the story is that at times the story seems too familiar. Alone on a deserted island is a theme all of us have read at least a few times in this or other version. This story is different in the sense it discusses a meeting with one unique personality that affected the life of Michael for good. Kensuke's story also turns out to be, through the end, a story of a great neglect of opportunity - not that this isn't a part of life but still I am not sure that this is the lesson the author has intended us to learn. I mention this as the moral messages and themes are inserted along the book and include family values, power of the self, protection of wild life and cruelty of men in war times and towards animals.
I must admit that I personally enjoyed the family part a lot better then the main story, which was about Michael and Kensuke on the Island. I liked the details of the family struggle and their effort to find a new meaningful way of life; This, I believe is only a personal feeling relevant to my age,being a mother of a young adolescent, and ever struggling with questions about the right way of life...

I simply loved this book! No other book can compete with it not even Harry Potter. The book is great for 10 upwards. If you like travelling, exploring, playing football, sailing, painting, learning from other people and making things, then this is the book for you. It all started with the arrival of a letter that changed the lives of Michael's Family in turn made the parents lose their jobs. After many harsh months of poverty, the father gets an idea of sailing round the whole world with a sailing boat called "Peggy Sue." The family battles through storms and towering waves but most of the time loves doing fun things onboard. (let me go to the point, I'm writing too much) Soon afterwards we find Michael on a tropical island in the Pacific, where we find out that it's inhabitated by an old man called Kensuke,a Japanese. They both teach each other new things. Michael teaches Kensuke how to speak English while the other teaches him how to be resourceful. That's not all. At one point, each one had a story to tell. Stories on how they got stranded on the island. This makes it more amusing. We also find cute creatures called orangutan. Well there's too much to tell about the book. If you find this book, buy it, it will be a treasure for your library.

hi, my name is sandy jones. i read this book when i was 9 and the only thing that stopped me from reading it, was to sleep. it is a faboulous book for all ages.

I always tell my friends Michael Morpurgo writes two kinds of books, for kids and for adults. Kensuke's Kingdom is one oft hose very special ones that is suitable for all ages. The story is a typical Robert Louis Stevenson plot, for an adult though it becomes a story of war and friendship. Though this might not be the best book of Michael Morpurgo, it is definetley a book worth reading (it only takes at most 2 hours to finish!).

Have you ever dreamt of being on a tropical island? How about being stuck on one? If so this is the book for you. In Kensuke's Kingdom a boy named Michael falls off a ship called the Peggy Sue with his dog Stella and washes up on a deserted island- at least that's what he thinks until they meet the mysterious Kensuke!!

This book is full of exciting twists and turns as Kensuke and Michael form a bonding friendship that will last forever. If you like the idea of this story of survival then sail on over to your nearest library or bookstore. Will Michael make if off the island or not? Happy reading!!