Kensuke's Kingdom by Michael Morpurgo.
Kensuke's Kingdom (1999) is a survival adventure and a story of friendship across difference. Twelve-year-old Michael falls overboard from his parents' yacht during a round-the-world voyage and washes up on a Pacific island inhabited by an elderly Japanese man named Kensuke.
Michael and his family set off on a round-the-world sailing voyage after his parents lose their jobs. Michael falls overboard during a storm and is washed ashore on an apparently uninhabited island. With his dog Stella, he tries to survive.
Michael discovers the island is home to Kensuke — an elderly Japanese man who was a naval doctor in the Second World War and was marooned on the island decades ago. Kensuke is initially hostile, warning Michael away from the beach. Slowly, through shared gestures and then language, the two build a deep friendship. Kensuke teaches Michael to paint, to fish and to survive. Michael discovers Kensuke's painful secret: he believes his wife and son were killed in the bombing of Nagasaki in 1945.
A passing ship approaches. Michael wants to signal it; Kensuke forbids it. Eventually Kensuke relents — but chooses to stay on the island himself. He cannot face the world that killed his family. Michael is rescued and returns home. Years later, Michael learns that Kensuke's son Michiya survived and searched for his father — but never found him.
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