Michael Morpurgo Month 2020: Flamingo Boy Classroom Resource

Flamingo Boy A young autistic boy lives on his parents’ farm among the salt flats of the Camargue in the south of France. There are lots of things he doesn’t understand: but he does know how to heal animals. Every week he goes to market with his mother, to ride his special horse on the town carousel.

But then the Germans come; a soldier shoots a flamingo from the sky. The carousel is damaged, the horses broken. For this vulnerable boy, everything is falling apart.

Only there’s a kind sergeant among the Germans – a man with a young boy of his own at home, a man who trained as a carpenter. Between them, perhaps boy and man can mend what has been broken – and maybe even the whole town…

Occupation “So the shock of seeing a German scout car come driving into the town square that afternoon, officers in grey uniforms and peaked caps in the back, and German soldiers coming in behind them – trucks full of them, with their shining black helmets, and their rifles – silenced the town instantly. The carousel stopped turning. The music stopped playing. The town looked on in disbelief. No one moved. No one spoke.

The leaves on the plane trees in the square rustled in the wind, but that was the only sound you could hear. Even the pigeons on the church roof seemed to have stopped their cooing.”

Occupation “So the shock of seeing a German scout car come driving into the town square that afternoon, officers in grey uniforms and peaked caps in the back, and German soldiers coming in behind them – trucks full of them, with their shining black helmets, and their rifles – silenced the town instantly. The carousel stopped turning. The music stopped playing. The town looked on in disbelief. No one moved. No one spoke. The leaves on the plane trees in the square rustled in the wind, but that was the only sound you could hear. Even the pigeons on the church roof seemed to have stopped their cooing.”

Occupation “So the shock of seeing a German scout car come driving into the town square that afternoon, officers in grey uniforms and peaked caps in the back, and German soldiers coming in behind them – trucks full of them, with their shining black helmets, and their rifles – silenced the town instantly. The carousel stopped turning. The music stopped playing. The town looked on in disbelief. No one moved. No one spoke. The leaves on the plane trees in the square rustled in the wind, but that was the only sound you could hear. Even the pigeons on the church roof seemed to have stopped their cooing.”

Storytelling challenge…

Can you write using a mixture of longer and shorter sentences?

Think of an exciting moment in a story. Perhaps: ● The main character gets some bad news ● The villain walks into the room ● The hero is hiding and danger is coming closer and closer Tell the story to a partner and make it as exciting as you can. Try to use a mixture of longer descriptive sentences and short punchy sentences in your storyteller’s voice.