The Butterfly Lion

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Could you conduct a survey to find out your friends favourite animals and show the results in different types of table / graph? Michael Morpurgo was unhappy at boarding school, and, when he was seven, he ran away. These experiences made it into The Butterfly Lion. This lovely reading comprehension also comes with a set of questions, which test how well the children have understood the text.

Bertie and Millie first meet when a kite becomes caught in a tree. Design and build simple kites using dowelling, plastic bags (or paper) and string. This will support work on 2D/3D shape, measuring and properties of materials. For many children this may be their first experience of flying a kite and their feelings from this could be captured through diary or poetry writing. What predictions or connections can you make between the lion in South Africa and the lion that Bertie sees on the hillside in England based on what Natalie said? There was impala meat, whenever he wanted it. And as he grew, and he grew fast, he wanted more and more of it. For the first time in his life, Bertie was totally happy." But... it doesn't last. Soon, Bertie is sent away to a school in England, and the lion cub is sold, to a circus in France. Michael Morpurgo appeared on the map for me after I first saw the movie and then read the book War Horse. Eventually, I came across this gem of an edition.Make a list of the animals named in the book. What can you find out about them? Can you identify what they eat, their habitats, how they are adapted to live there etc? Bertie had grown up in South Africa and one day found and saved a white lion cub. The book, I was happy to discover, takes its time showing us Bertie's life in Africa, how lonely he was, and then how his friendship with the lion blossomed and he learned about companionship. Try to research the place 'Timbavati', where Bertie was born. What is the environment like there? Who lives there? What is there to do in the local area? How is it similar / different to where you were born?

Bertie wanted to run away from his boarding school in Wiltshire to London. On a map can you find Wiltshire? London? This, in and of itself, would be heartbreaking and infuriating. But knowing how much the two cared about one another just made it worse (or better, from a storyteller's point of view). The Butterfly Lion is a heart warming yet bitter-sweet story. Bertie is a lonely little boy in South Africa who one day adopts an orphaned white lion cub, who then becomes his best friend. Millie uses the phrase ‘Everything comes to he who waits’. What does this mean? Can you find out any more famous phrases? Write / tell one of the stories that the men might share when they come home from their time away guarding the cattle.The KS2 SATs style reading material covers his early life, his involvement with charities and his many achievements.

The inspiring magic of a white lion brings friendship and hope to a lonely ten year old. Miserable at his boarding school, Bertie runs away. He is rescued by a kind old lady who tells him of how another Bertie, a little boy from a long time before, saved an orphaned lion cub in Africa. The symbol of the white lion becomes an emblem of hope as well as a link across generations. Michael Morpurgo is skilful in weaving together magical and real stories. ~ Julia Eccleshare Look at a picture of a white lion cub and think of vocabulary to describe it? (see Resources below). The old lady says that ‘true stories do not always end just as we would wish them to’. Do you prefer to hear the truth or something made up that keeps you happy? Basher Beaumont terrorises and torments the boy at boarding school. Discuss bullying and how we can help people who are affected.

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Roger McGough’s poems based on the Carnival of the Animals will provide a starting point for children’s own writing, whilst in art, works by Chagall, Miro and Seurat referencing the circus will support discussion of style and developing mixed media work. Well, you've probably never seen a lion live in a house before, but that's what he ends up doing. He even sleeps at the end of Bertie's bed.