Michael Morpurgo Month 2020: Alone on a Wide Wide Sea Classroom Resource

Alone on a Wide Wide Sea “There were dozens of us on the ship, boys and girls. We were off to Australia, but it might as well have been to the moon.�

Orphaned in WWII, Arthur is separated from his sister and sent to the other side of the world.

There his extraordinary journey continues as he and his friend Marty survive brutal captivity on a working farm, find a new family with the eccentric Aunty Meg and her animals, and discover their talent for designing yachts.

Sixty years later, Arthur’s daughter Allie sets sail single-handed in a yacht designed by her father, determined to find his long lost sister in England.

Waves I “It was a different world I was sailing in down there, the wildest place I’ve ever been. South of 60° between Cape Horn and the Antarctic peninsula there’s no land to break up the ocean swells, so the waves travel uninterrupted for hundreds of miles and they’re just massive.”

Waves II “I had to be out there avoiding the breaking waves, especially the hollow ones, the ones that look as if they’re going to swallow you up. Sleep was almost impossible in seas like this, in weather like this. The wind screamed all the time. It was a constant pounding. I was on edge, listening to the boat, trying to work out if she was just complaining, or whether she was telling me something was really wrong.”

Waves III You should see the waves she’d be shouting at…

They’ve travelled all around the world just to meet us here – aren’t they nice? Aren’t they kind? – building up all the time. Up to 200 metres long, I promise you. Awesome, magnificent, majestic, amazing, exhilarating, overwhelming (running out of adjectives so I’ll stop). They’re wave monsters that’s what they are, and when one decides to break it's like an avalanche that goes on and on, and Kitty 4 does snowboarding then surfing through the middle of it, raging white water all around, the air snowing foam.

Storytelling challenge...

Can you tell a simple story in more than one way, changing the language you use depending on your audience?

Think of a very simple story, such as: ● A cat gets stuck in a tree ● You walk round the corner and bump into an old friend ● Your friend dares you to go into a spooky house Now tell the story to a partner several times. Each time you tell the story, imagine they are someone different, such as: ● A small child ● A very strict teacher ● Your best friend Do the words and phrases you can use/choose to use change each time? How?