
Write a diary entry from Bertie's point of view at different points in the story (e.g.
Use one of the chapter titles as the title for a new story. Write a diary entry from his point of view, explaining how he feels about being there. At the start of the book, the boy is at boarding school in Wiltshire. Can you research the life of Virginia McKenna and write a biography about her?. I won't ever forget you." Could you use this as the starting point for your own story? The blurb on the back of the book has a quote from Bertie: "All my life I'll think of you, I promise I will. See More Books from this author Teaching Ideas and Resources: English Stay up to date and receive our free email newsletter!. Have you made a great resource? Share it here!.
Explore our library and use wonderful books in your lessons!. Use these videos as the starting point for learning in your classroom!. He then hears Millie's voice asking him to look after the chalk lion on the hill. Michael goes back to the house, finding it deserted. He finds a plaque commemorating Bertie's heroic acts in the war, and learns from a teacher that Millie died only a few months after Bertie. When the lion dies, Bertie and Millie carve a lion out of the chalk in the hillside in memorial, before Bertie dies himself.Īfter being told the story, Michael returns to school. Together they discover that Monsieur Merlot's circus has closed down, but that the Frenchman lives nearby with the lion.īertie marries Millie and brings the lion back to England, where they live happily for many years. Millie, who has become a nurse in the hopes of finding Bertie, reads about him in a newspaper and the two are reunited. Later, when fighting in France in the First World War, he saves two men's lives and is given a Victoria Cross. When the pair leave school, they continue to write until war breaks out, and a letter arrives from Bertie informing Millie that he has joined the army. He tells Millie all about his life in South Africa, and his white lion cub. 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.īertie escapes from his school and meets Millie, and the two become fast friends, flying kites together. She tells him about a boy named Bertie who lived in South Africa. Plot summary Ī young boy named Michael runs away from a boarding school and meets an old lady living in a big cottage. The book was adapted into a stage play by Daniel Buckroyd of the Mercury Theatre, Colchester, which toured the UK in 2014. It was first published in Great Britain by Collins in 1996, and won the 1996 Smarties book prize. The Butterfly Lion is a children's novel by Michael Morpurgo.