Kenji's Kingdom - (Illustrated Edition of World Children's Literature)

Author: (English) Michael Morpurgo
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2005-01-01
Features: On July 28, 1988, it was my twelfth birthday. The night before my birthday, I disappeared. Now, I can finally tell the true yet strange story. At that time, Kenji asked me to promise him not to reveal that experience for at least ten years, not a single word. That was Kenji's last request, so I agreed. Because of this promise, I have lived under the shadow of lies. I could have continued to hide it, but now it has been over ten years. I finished middle school, finished college, and everything became clear. I deceived my family and friends for so many years, and now it is time to reveal the truth about my long disappearance, including my story of surviving a near-death experience. However, there is another reason to speak the truth now, a more important reason. Kenji was an extraordinary person, a kind person, and he was my friend. I hope the whole world knows him as well as I do.
When I was almost eleven years old, I received that letter. Before that, my life was very ordinary. There were four of us in the house: Mom, Dad, me, and Stella—the Stella Atwater, my sheepdog, with one ear standing up and the other drooping, with a black and white coat. Before everything happened, Stella's intuition seemed to be very accurate, but this time, even she probably wouldn't have guessed that a letter could change my life. Now, thinking back, my early childhood life was very routine, almost unchanged. Every morning, I walked along that road to "Monkey School" for school. My father called the school "Monkey School" because the children on the playground always chattered and made noise, some even climbed the ladder upside down, swaying back and forth. At that time, I was his "little monkey"—if he was in a good mood. But, he was always in a good mood. Actually, the school I attended was called "St. Joseph's School," and I was very happy there, at least most of the time. After school every day, no matter the weather, I would go to the playground to play soccer with Eddie Doss. Eddie was my best friend, and we also played with Matt, Bobby, and others. The playground was full of mud, and the ball would suddenly stop and stick to the ground when we passed it. We had our own team, called the "Mudmen," which we named ourselves, and the team did quite well. For some reason, the people who played soccer there always thought the ball would bounce. By the time they realized the ball would always stick to the ground, we had already scored two or three goals ahead. If we played somewhere else, our performance would be much worse.
On weekends, I delivered newspapers for Mr. Patel's small shop at the corner. I wanted to save money to buy a mountain bike. I wanted to go mountain biking with Eddie in the wilderness. But the problem was, I always saved a little and spent it immediately. And I still do that now.