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Summary
Summary
Robert Louis Stevenson's cherished, unforgettable adventure magically captures the thrill of a sea voyage and a treasure hunt through the eyes of its teenage protagonist, Jim Hawkins. Crossing the Atlantic in search of the buried cache, Jim and the ship's crew must brave the elements and a mutinous charge led by the quintessentially ruthless pirate Long John Silver. Brilliantly conceived and splendidly executed, it is a novel that has seized the imagination of generations of adults and children alike. And as David Cordingly points out in his Introduction, Treasure Island is also the best and most influential of all the stories about pirates. From the Trade Paperback edition.
Author Notes
Novelist, poet, and essayist Robert Louis Stevenson was born in Edinburgh, Scotland. A sickly child, Stevenson was an invalid for part of his childhood and remained in ill health throughout his life. He began studying engineering at Edinburgh University but soon switched to law. His true inclination, however, was for writing. For several years after completing his studies, Stevenson traveled on the Continent, gathering ideas for his writing. His Inland Voyage (1878) and Travels with a Donkey (1878) describe some of his experiences there. A variety of essays and short stories followed, most of which were published in magazines. It was with the publication of Treasure Island in 1883, however, that Stevenson achieved wide recognition and fame. This was followed by his most successful adventure story, Kidnapped, which appeared in 1886.
With stories such as Treasure Island and Kidnapped, Stevenson revived Daniel Defoe's novel of romantic adventure, adding to it psychological analysis. While these stories and others, such as David Balfour and The Master of Ballantrae (1889), are stories of adventure, they are at the same time fine studies of character. The Master of Ballantrae, in particular, is a study of evil character, and this study is taken even further in The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1886).
In 1887 Stevenson and his wife, Fanny, went to the United States, first to the health spas of Saranac Lake, New York, and then on to the West Coast. From there they set out for the South Seas in 1889. Except for one trip to Sidney, Australia, Stevenson spent the remainder of his life on the island of Samoa with his devoted wife and stepson. While there he wrote The Wrecker (1892), Island Nights Entertainments (1893), and Catriona (1893), a sequel to Kidnapped. He also worked on St. Ives and The Weir of Hermiston, which many consider to be his masterpiece. He died suddenly of apoplexy, leaving both of these works unfinished. Both were published posthumously; St. Ives was completed by Sir Arthur Quiller-Couch, and The Weir of Hermiston was published unfinished. Stevenson was buried on Samoa, an island he had come to love very much.
Although Stevenson's novels are perhaps more accomplished, his short stories are also vivid and memorable. All show his power of invention, his command of the macabre and the eerie, and the psychological depth of his characterization.
(Bowker Author Biography)
Novelist, poet, and essayist Robert Louis Stevenson was born in Edinburgh, Scotland. A sickly child, Stevenson was an invalid for part of his childhood and remained in ill health throughout his life. He began studying engineering at Edinburgh University but soon switched to law. His true inclination, however, was for writing. For several years after completing his studies, Stevenson traveled on the Continent, gathering ideas for his writing. His Inland Voyage (1878) and Travels with a Donkey (1878) describe some of his experiences there. A variety of essays and short stories followed, most of which were published in magazines. It was with the publication of Treasure Island in 1883, however, that Stevenson achieved wide recognition and fame. This was followed by his most successful adventure story, Kidnapped, which appeared in 1886.
With stories such as Treasure Island and Kidnapped, Stevenson revived Daniel Defoe's novel of romantic adventure, adding to it psychological analysis. While these stories and others, such as David Balfour and The Master of Ballantrae (1889), are stories of adventure, they are at the same time fine studies of character. The Master of Ballantrae, in particular, is a study of evil character, and this study is taken even further in The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1886).
In 1887 Stevenson and his wife, Fanny, went to the United States, first to the health spas of Saranac Lake, New York, and then on to the West Coast. From there they set out for the South Seas in 1889. Except for one trip to Sidney, Australia, Stevenson spent the remainder of his life on the island of Samoa with his devoted wife and stepson. While there he wrote The Wrecker (1892), Island Nights Entertainments (1893), and Catriona (1893), a sequel to Kidnapped. He also worked on St. Ives and The Weir of Hermiston, which many consider to be his masterpiece. He died suddenly of apoplexy, leaving both of these works unfinished. Both were published posthumously; St. Ives was completed by Sir Arthur Quiller-Couch, and The Weir of Hermiston was published unfinished. Stevenson was buried on Samoa, an island he had come to love very much.
Although Stevenson's novels are perhaps more accomplished, his short stories are also vivid and memorable. All show his power of invention, his command of the macabre and the eerie, and the psychological depth of his characterization.
(Bowker Author Biography)
Reviews (7)
School Library Journal Review
Gr 2-5-This fast-paced, pared down "storyteller's version" of the Robert Louis Stevenson classic will captivate listeners thanks to Jim Weiss's ability to bring a story to life. Weiss begins by briefly discussing Stevenson's life and explaining how the celebrated author came to create the novel. After this fine introduction, he treats listeners to an entertaining adaptation of the adventure that is easy to follow. Young Jim Hawkins discovers a treasure map and takes to the high seas to claim the treasure. Battling Hawkins is a vindictive group of pirates led by the duplicitous peg-legged Long John Silver. Weiss has fun with the characters, especially the boisterous Silver, the shrill Ben Gunn, and a parrot that loves squawking "Pieces of Eight! Pieces of Eight!" He uses his voice effectively when describing both the terror Hawkins feels hiding from bad guys and the sudden noise of a gun battle. Jim Weiss ends by telling kids to find the book at their local library. An hour long program cannot do complete justice to Stevenson's classic, but this skillful presentation will encourage young listeners to read Treasure Island.-Brian E. Wilson, Evanston Public Library, IL (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Publisher's Weekly Review
Sure, this summer's flick Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End may have visual splash, but a new recording of Robert Louis Stevenson's Treasure Island, read by Alfred Molina, serves up a swashbuckling listening experience for the whole family. Molina's British accent, smooth delivery and inviting tone of wide-eyed adventure whisk readers on deck with teenage narrator/protagonist Jim Hawkins. His depictions of gruff seamen and the program's occasional snippets of sea chantey music further color the proceedings. A bonus essay by maritime scholar David Cordingly is included. (Listening Library, unabridged, six CDs, seven hours $29.95 ISBN 9780-7393-5046-1 ages 9-up; July) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Horn Book Review
These adaptations are so poor that it is a disgrace for the original author's name to appear on the book; the old classic comic-book renditions had more integrity. (c) Copyright 2010. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Booklist Review
Gr. 5-9. This is one of the best in the picture-book-size Scribner Storybook Classic series. True to the spirit of Stevenson's timeless novel, Timothy Meis' abridged retelling captures the bloody action of mutiny on the high seas and the cutthroat quest for hidden treasure. The story is told through the eyes of brave cabin boy Jim, who fights off the murderous pirates and bonds with their one-legged leader, Long John Silver. Wyeth's thrilling, handsomely reproduced paintings, originally done in 1911, will attract a variety of readers, including some older high-schoolers. In dark shades of brown and red, the pictures focus on the grim, exciting struggle on board the ship and on the island. At the same time, there's a burning golden glow in the background of almost every scene, keeping readers in mind of the treasure that drives the wild action. The most unforgettable painting--and one of Wyeth's most famous--is the melancholy scene of Jim leaving home as his mother weeps in the background. It's the elemental adventure. --Hazel Rochman Copyright 2003 Booklist
School Library Journal Review
Gr 6-10-- The striking jacket of this new edition of an old classic promises more than it delivers. Thirty-one plates, full-color but predominantly in earth-tone hues, are dropped into the text, sometimes mindlessly. For example, the cover art, a pirate digging in sand among pieces of eight, reappears on page 61, facing text that sketches the lives of pirates, ``gentlemen of fortune.'' The text never relates to the art. Ingpen's style is impressionistic but evocative of N. C. Wyeth's illustrations for the same title (Scribners, 1911, reissued by Time Warner, 1992); his plate of Blind Pow shows the subject in much the same pose. In some paintings, Ingpen uses angle and perspective effectively; interest is added by superimposing people upon background, or vice-versa. Spot line drawings, some used more than once, accent many pages. Unfortunately, in some cases, a subject is not recognizable from one page to the next, and the hazy impressionistic style makes it difficult to interpret some pictures. Although superficially handsome, this title has stiff competition from many other editions of Treasure Island , the Wyeth edition, especially. --Carolyn Noah, Central Mass. Regional Library System, Worcester, MA (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Horn Book Review
The series title is a terrible misnomer. These books should be called butchered classics. (c) Copyright 2010. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Booklist Review
Gr. 5 and up. True to the danger and adventure of Stevenson's classic story, Ingpen's illustrations (both full-page watercolors and small, precisely detailed black-and-white drawings) show sailing ships and the sea and ruthless pirates in pursuit of treasure. Brooding over it all is the figure of Long John Silver, one leg missing, parrot on his shoulder, the lined, weatherbeaten face showing his intelligence and power but not his duplicity. We see the boy, Jim, caught up in the intrigue, from the terror of the blind man at the inn in a night of stormy darkness to the discovery of the shining pieces of eight. The glowing cover shows an obsessed, ragged treasure-hunter digging up the beach with his hands, the mast of a ship barely visible in the background. While no picture could replace Wyeth's nineteenth-century masterpiece that shows Jim leaving home, this handsome edition will draw good middle school readers to the story. And teens won't be deterred by the large-size format, since the illustrations have character and mystery and capture the enduring appeal of the boy on a perilous adventure who returns home a man. ~--Hazel Rochman
Table of Contents
Part I The Old Buccaneer | |
1 The Old Sea Dog at the 'Admiral Benbow' | p. 3 |
2 Black Dog Appears and Disappears | p. 12 |
3 The Black Spot | p. 21 |
4 The Sea-Chest | p. 29 |
5 The Last of the Blind Man | p. 38 |
6 The Captain's Papers | p. 46 |
Part II The Sea Cook | |
7 I Go to Bristol | p. 57 |
8 At the Sign of the 'Spy-Glass' | p. 65 |
9 Powder and Arms | p. 73 |
10 The Voyage | p. 81 |
11 What I Heard in the Apple Barrel | p. 89 |
12 Council of War | p. 98 |
Part III My Shore Adventure | |
13 How I Began my Shore Adventure | p. 109 |
14 The First Blow | p. 116 |
15 The Man of the Island | p. 124 |
Part IV The Stockade | |
16 Narrative Continued by the Doctor: How the Ship was Abandoned | p. 135 |
17 Narrative Continued by the Doctor: The Jolly-Boat's Last Trip | p. 142 |
18 Narrative Continued by the Doctor: End of the First Day's Fighting | p. 148 |
19 Narrative Resumed by Jim Hawkins: The Garrison in the Stockade | p. 155 |
20 Silver's Embassy | p. 163 |
21 The Attack | p. 171 |
Part V My Sea Adventure | |
22 How I Began my Sea Adventure | p. 183 |
23 The Ebb-tide Runs | p. 191 |
24 The Cruise of the Coracle | p. 198 |
25 I Strike the Jolly Roger | p. 206 |
26 Israel Hands | p. 213 |
27 'Pieces of Eight' | p. 224 |
Part VI Captain Silver | |
28 In the Enemy's Camp | p. 235 |
29 The Black Spot Again | p. 246 |
30 On Parole | p. 255 |
31 The Treasure Hunt -- Flint's Pointer | p. 265 |
32 The Treasure Hunt -- The Voice Among the Trees | p. 274 |
33 The Fall of a Chieftain | p. 283 |
34 And Last | p. 291 |