Kensuke's Kingdom Quotes

When Michael is washed up on an island in the Pacific after falling from his parent’s yacht, the Peggy Sue, he struggles to survive on his own. But he soon realizes there is someone close by, someone who is watching over him and helping him to stay alive.

He was left marooned on a desert island with no one for company except his dog, Stella Artois, and a mysterious old man who refused to let him leave. However, over time the initial animosity between Michael and the elderly Kensuke softened and blossomed into a powerful friendship that would change Michael’s life forever…

Morpurgo here spins a yarn which gently captures the adventurous elements one would expect from a desert-island tale, but the real strength lies in the poignant and subtle observations of friendship, trust and, ultimately, humanity.

Being a children’s book, I thought I would love it for the innocence in the writing and the illustrations. But heck, no (again!) I enjoyed it for what it is. Full of adventure, full of Robinson Crusoe vibes.

It is a story about family, pets, animals, the sea and its numerous creatures, an island nestling a forest and its mysterious beings; an old man in his world building it to a kingdom of his own along with the orangutans and the gibbons; men and animals living together; separations and wars.

It is an exciting adventure novel in which a young boy named Michael is swept overboard during a storm while sailing around the world with his family, and left stranded on a desert island with his pet dog.

However, he soon crosses paths with the island’s only other inhabitant: an irascible Japanese man named Kensuke. Despite the many differences between them, Michael and Kensuke soon become fast friends, but both of them will have to choose between their peaceful life on the island and the uncertainty of returning to civilisation…

Kensuke’s Kingdom is a children’s novel in which a young man named Michael tells the story of an adventure he had ten years earlier. Michael and his parents were sailing around the world when a fierce storm swept Michael overboard, and he was left marooned on a desert island with no one for company except his dog, Stella Artois, and a mysterious old man who refused to let him leave.

“I find this ball. Very soon I tell you everything. Little fish not so good now. Not so many. We need big fish sometimes from deep sea. We smoke fish. Then we have plenty fish to eat. You understand?” The outrigger was a great deal heavier than it looked. I helped Kensuke drag it down the beach and into the sea. “This very good boat” he said, as we lifted Stella in.

“This boat never go down. I make myself. Very safe boat.” He pushed us off and jumped in. I never ceased to be amazed at his extraordinary agility and strength. He rowed with a single oar, standing in the stern of the boat, more as if he was punting. Very soon we were out beyond the shelter of the cave and into the swell of the open sea.