An introduction from the author, Michael Morpurgo.

"Imagine what Kenuke's Kingdom would have been like without the forest, without the trees. No coconuts or fruit to eat, no palm leaves for shade, no sap for paintbrushes, no wood for a fire and certainly no gibbons or orang-utans for company. Without the forest, would Kensuke or Michael have been able to survive as well as they did?

Believe it or not, in some parts of the world this is fast becoming a reality. In Asia and South America, even in parts of Europe, forests are being chopped down illegally, without permits, to make way for roads, to clear the way for crops such as palm oil, or simply for the valuable wood itself. In Sumatra and Borneo Orang-utans themselves are in danger, not just because of hunters, but because their home is disappearing. In the last twenty years 80% of their forest has been chopped down - they could become extinct in the wild within 10 years.

But we need wood; to build homes, to make paintbrushes, to make paper, even the book in your hands was once part of a forest. It's a matter of balance. We need to carefully manage our forests to make sure they don't disappear but are there in the future, for the creatures that live in them and the people that rely on them. We need to make sure that they are sustainable.

That's why I am so pleased that this book is printed entirely on paper certified by the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC), one of only a small number of books in the world to have achieved this standard. This means you can be sure that the wood used to make it has come from well managed forests. The people at Egmont are working hard to make sure that all of the paper they use is made of trees that have been harvested without breaking the law and over time they will be printing more and more of their books on FSC paper.

So next time you're looking for a book or your parents are buying furniture, think of Kensuke and look for the FSC logo."

Michael Morpurgo