The Butterfly Lion: Michael Morpurgo

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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? Identify any unfamiliar words in the story (e.g. veld, haven, sentinels). Can you find out what they mean and write your own definition?

A young boy named Michael runs away from a boarding school and meets an old lady living in a big cottage. She tells him about a boy named Bertie who lived in South Africa. As a boy, Bertie had found an orphaned white lion cub, but was eventually forced to send the lion away to the circus and leave South Africa to attend boarding school in Wiltshire, England. Find out about the use of animals in circuses and write a balanced argument showing the arguments for and against this practice.Make a list of the animals named in the book. Can you use a Venn diagram or Carroll diagram to sort them into different groups?

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? A son and grandson of actors, Michael has acting in his blood and enjoys collaborating and performing live adaptations of his books at festivals, concerts and theatres. Before he leaves South Africa, Bertie promises, that one day, no matter what it takes, he will find his lion again. Do you think he does? Well... Many years later, a school-boy discovers the answer, when he sees another lion, on the side of a hill in England. If you were going to travel to Timbavati, how would you get there? Can you plot the journey on a map?Having run away from boarding school, young Michael meets an old lady who tells about a boy he’s age called Bertie who adopts a Lion in South Africa. A very short, but almost magical story. A bit sad... Reading it you are under the impression of being in a magical land.