Kids into books - Kensuke's Kingdom

This weeks title: Kensuke's Kingdom

Author: Michael Morpurgo

Illustrator: Michael Foreman

Age Group: 10-12 years


My father stopped fixing things around the house. He was scarcely ever home anyway. If he wasn't looking for a job, he'd be down in the pub. When he was home he'd just sit there flicking through endless yachting magazines and saying nothing.

I tried to stay out of the house and play football as much as I could, but then Eddie moved away because his father had found a job somewhere down south. Football just wasn't the same without him. The Mudlarks disbanded. Everything was falling apart. Then one Saturday I came home from my paper round and found my mother sitting at the bottom of the stairs and crying. She'd always been so strong. I'd never seen like this before.

'Silly beggar,' she said. 'Your dad's a silly beggar, Michael, that's what he is.'

'What's he done?' I asked her.

'He's gone off,' she told me, and I thought she meant for good. 'He wouldn't tell me what it was, only that he's sold the car, that we're moving south, and he's going to find us a place.' I was relieved, and quite pleased, really.