AN IDDESLEIGH author has won the Children's Book Award for his latest offering 'Kensuke's Kingdom.'
Michael Morpurgo's book was voted No.1 by 20,000 children in a competition organised by the Federation of Children's Book Groups.
The 56-year-old author, who started writing in 1974 when he moved to Devon with his wife to start up the charity 'Farms for City Children', is thrilled by the honour.
'It is lovely because it has been chosen by children and not book critics,' he said. 'It is very warming and means so much more.'
'Kensuke's Kingdom' was shortlisted for the Whitbread Children's Book of the Year in 1999 but was beaten by the latest Harry Potter book. Mr Morpurgo said this time it was the other way around.
The book is about a young boy who travels around the world with his parents after his father is made redundant and they sell the family possessions to buy a yacht.
After the boy falls overboard in the Coral Sea he wakes up on a desert island and meets a Japanese soldier who was left behind on the island from World War Two.
The story follows the extraordinary relationship that develops between the soldier and the boy who he has to share the island with after 60 years of being alone.
Mr Morpurgo, who writes on average two books a year, said he considered his 68th book his best yet.
The former teacher divides his time between writing and working with children, 3,000 of whom are catered for on the charity's three farms each year.
'I do not think I could do one thing without the other,' he said. 'I have to get out and live a life and I find the life I live with children, being out on the farm and the people I work with very inspiring.'
Travelling is also a big love of the author's who recently wrote ' A Wombat Goes Walkabout' after returning from a trip to Australia.
This is the second time Mr Morpurgo has won the Children's Book Award.