Running Wild

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English: In my SBT1 class, this book was used to assist pupils in writing persuasive pieces to stop deforestation for palm oil- pupils were captivated and passionate due to their intense emotional response to Wills story. Additionally, this novel would prove engaging should you stop just before the ending and allow pupils to continue the narrative and write their own ending(or do the same at any point of the book).

Running Wild by Michael Morpurgo starts with a boy, Will Robert, riding an elephant along a beach, whilst on holiday in Indonesia. Will is grieving for his father, Robert, who died in the Iraq War. The elephant, Oona, is in an odd mood that day: her handler mentions that she refused to go into the sea for her usual morning dip. Suddenly, Oona charges off with Will clinging on for dear life. As they ascend a hill, Will witnesses the Boxing Day tsunami obliterating the beach where he had been moments earlier. Will is very sad.Geography: This novel provides deep description and context for rainforest topics. Pupils would be better able to imagine the different layers of the rainforest, understanding the different animals and their struggles. Pupils could use self-chosen extracts of the book to add vivid description to rainforest work/projects. You can also read about his life in War Child to War Horse,a collaborative biography with Maggie Fergusson.

This reading comprehension is a brilliant way to prepare your Year 6 students for their KS2 SATs exams. After more than a year in the jungle, Will comes across Doctor Geraldine, a lone scientist who has devoted her life to the saving and rehabilitation of the threatened orang-utans, a small, heroic activity set against the slow obliteration of the species. It's through her that Will's future seems about to be decided, until he takes matters into his own hands. In November 2016 Michael Morpurgo won the J M Barrie Award for his contribution to children’s literature.This award is given every year by Action for Children’s Arts to a “children’s arts practitioner” whose lifetime’s work has delighted children and will stand the test of time. Writing in the Guardian, Linda Newbery says: “With its emphasis on animal instincts and social behaviour, Running Wild, part epic adventure, part plea for threatened habitats, will surely rank alongside his best-loved books.” [4] Stage adaptation [ edit ]Hello Yellow - 80 Books to Help Children Nurture Good Mental Health and Support With Anxiety and Wellbeing - remember to tell her that last thing at night before I went off to sleep. Mum had always told me the same thing at bedtime; Dad too, when he was home. I always loved them saying it. And now it comforted me to be saying it to Oona each night, helped me to put the past behind me, and to come to terms with my new life in the jungle with Oona. Of course I didn’t expect any kind of response from her to anything I’d said. I did think sometimes, that an occasional, ‘Love you too,’ would have been nice. But it never happened. There was one time though, when she did reply, in a sort of a way, in a most surprising way actually. I’d just said my ‘goodnight, love you’, when she let out one of the longest, loudest farts I had ever heard in all my life. I’d known her long enough by now to know she was a frequent farter, but this particular one was truly the most magnificent fart of all farts, and musical too, one that seemed to go on and on interminably. I could hear my own giggling echoing through the trees long after I’d finished. I remember I’d always giggled with Bart and Tonk and Charlie when someone let off in school assembly, even when we knew we’d get into trouble with Big Mac. I don’t know why, but when it came to farts I was a helpless giggler, I could never stop myself. Now out here in the jungle there was no need to stop myself, no Big Mac to keep me in at playtime. There wasn’t any real need to stop myself either when my laughter turned to tears, as it so often had done since I’d been in the jungle with Oona. I could tell it upset her when I cried, so I did my best not to. I promised her so often that I wouldn’t cry again, but it was a promise I was still struggling to keep. I went on promising her all the same, because I knew that one day if I promised it often enough, it would help me to make it happen. “I’m not going to cry, Oona.” I’d hold her trunk between my hands, close my eyes, and tell her yet again. “I’m not going to think of them. I mean it this time. I really mean it. I promise. I promise. I promise.” Every night during those early times with Oona, I tried to keep that promise, and there were many nights when I failed. There were no weeks and months for me any more, not in this place, only days, and the long long nights. Whenever I saw a glimpse of the moon through the trees above, I’d think about where I’d seen it before, through the window at home, out camping with Dad. It was these nights I hated most, for it was then that, however much I tried, the old griefs would come welling up inside me again. All I could do then was give myself up to tears. In some strange way though, I found the discomfort of having to sleep rough in the jungle each night did help to distract me from the sadnesses PSHE: Sections of the book could provide for good discussion topics- requiring pupils to deduct deeper meanings behind Wills feelings and relate this to their own experiences. Pupils can then share and discuss with peers.

Morpurgo added: “Storymakers and storytellers like Barrie, and like all the previous winners of this award, have given us the hope and faith children need, we need, to keep flying, have sustained us through dark and troubled times, have banished doubt. To touch the lives of children, to witness their listening and reading silence, is reward enough in itself. This is simply the icing on the cake.” been like that. It’s what soldiers have to do.” “I know that, Mum. Dad told me,” I said. “But what was the war for?” She didn’t answer me.

The first paragraph in the Charity section begins 'Ten years later...set-up the charity for City Children'. The paragraph before this ends with Michael writing his first book in 1974, which then implies that the Charity was set up in 1984. However, the Charity was set up in 1976, which was ten years after he had started teaching. It might be better to start that paragraph 'Ten years after he had started teaching...'

Armistice Day: A Collection of Remembrance - Spark Interest and Educate Children about Historical Moments The story is told in the first person, and readers who notice that Will has an improbable degree of self-awareness for a nine-year-old ("From now on I would remember only the marvellous times, the magical moments that I knew would lift my spirits, that would banish all grieving") and precocious powers of expression ("Whatever it was had transformed her from a ponderous creature of supreme gentleness and serenity, into a wild beast, maddened by terror") will find an explanation in the short postscript. Michael's books have been translated into many languages including Chinese, Bulgarian and Hungarian, Hebrew and Japanese. He travels all over the UK and abroad talking to people of all ages at literary festivals, telling his stories and encouraging them to tell theirs. He went on, trying all the while to extricate his shirt-tail from the grip of the elephant’s trunk. “This elephant, she likes this shirt very much, and she also likes people. Oona is very friendly, very intelligent too, and naughty. She is very naughty sometimes, you would not believe it. Sometimes she wants to run when I do not want her to run, and once she is running she is very hard to stop. Then once she is stopped, she is very difficult to start again. You know what Oona likes best? I tell you. She likes the sea. But it is a strange thing. Not today. Today she does not like the sea. I think maybe she is not feeling so good today. I take her down to the sea early this morning for her swim like I always do, and she does not want to go in. She does not want to go near. She only stands there looking out to sea as if she never saw it before. I tell her that the sea is the same as it was yesterday, but still she will not go in. One thing I know for sure: you can’t make Oona do what Oona does not want to do.” He tugged his shirt free at last. “Thank you, Oona, very nice of you,” he said, stroking her ear. “You see, she is happier now, and I think maybe this is because she likes you. I can tell this when I look in her eyes. It is how elephantsFeaturing a fact file on Michael Morpurgo, students will love finding out fun facts and information about the much-loved children's author. In the second paragraph the text says that Morpurgo was born in 1943. It then goes on to say 'When the Second World War broke out Michael.... was evacuated'. However, the war began in 1939 so Michael's evacuation cannot have been triggered by the start of the war.