Kensuke's Kingdom

A young boy called Michael is traveling with his parents around the world on the boat Peggy Sue, after his parents lost their jobs at the brickworks and decided to sail the seven seas. Michael's parents teach him what he would have normally learned at school and he has a log where he writes about his experiences. They travel from England to Africa, South America and Australia.

One night Michael is on lookout duty with his dog, Stella, when a storm throws them overboard. They awake on an island in the Pacific populated by friendly orangutans and gibbons. After finding food being regularly left for him, Michael meets an elderly Japanese man called Kensuke, who's also living on the island, which he considers his private kingdom. He was the one who rescued Michael from the storm and helps him survive. Kensuke initially forbids Michael from leaving his side of the island and lighting fires. However, after saving Michael yet again and nursing him back to health after he gets stung by a jellyfish, he invites Michael to live with him in his cave and begins opening up to Michael.

Michael teaches Kensuke English, and Kensuke teaches Michael how to paint, how to fish with a spear and where to find the best food (such as red bananas) and water. He is eventually revealed to be a doctor and survivor of World War II. Kensuke believes that his family, including his wife Kimi and son Michaya, died in Nagasaki after the atomic bomb was dropped there on 9 August 1945. Over time Kensuke begins to understand how Michael feels and how he misses his family. Together they build a beacon that can be lit to signal to ships, but for a long time they see no sign of any ships. Eventually, however, Michael finds the remains of a ship. He consults with Kensuke as to whether or not they should light the beacon. Kensuke recognises the ship carries poachers, so he and Michael rush to gather all the apes into a cave, to protect them from the threat. They nearly succeed but cannot find one particular orangutan, the one Kensuke calls Kikanbo. The poachers disembark and they hear gunshots. When the ship leaves, they discover that some gibbons have been killed, but Kikanbo had survived.

The next ship they sight is not the poachers', so they light the beacon. The crew on the ship see the fire and heads towards the island. When the boat is closer, Michael sees that it's the Peggy Sue, with his parents on board. However, Kensuke decides not to go home with Michael after all, saying "This is my place. This Kensuke's Kingdom. Emperor must stay in his Kingdom, look after his people. Emperor does not run away. Not honourable thing to do."

Kensuke asks Michael to keep his presence on the island a secret for ten years, after which Kensuke will probably be dead. Michael is reunited with his parents. In the epilogue, it's revealed that four years later, Kensuke's son Michiya, who had survived the Nagasaki bombing, wrote to Michael asking to meet him to talk about Kensuke. Michael notes that Michiya laughs just like his father.

In August 2018, WildChild Productions took a theatrical adaptation of Kensuke's Kingdom by Stuart Paterson to Edinburgh Festival Fringe.[3] It featured a voiceover by Jenny Agutter.

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