Top totty treasure (Treasure Island - Robert Louis Stevenson)

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Product:	Treasure Island - Robert Louis Stevenson
Date:	16/11/03 (324 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: good read

Disadvantages: none

Young Jim Hawkins suddenly comes into possession of an old map showing the location on a small island where a fortune in gold lies buried. Accompanying Long John Silver & his band of pirates, Jim sails toward the treasure...and more trouble than he can imagine. Ages 10 & up


Annotation
While going through the possessions of a deceased guest who owed them money, the mistress of the inn and her son find a treasure map that leads them to a pirate's fortune.


From the Publisher
Originally designed as a story for boys, Stevenson's novel is narrated by the teenage Jim Hawkins, who outwits a gang of murderous pirates led by that unforgettable avatar of amorality, Long John Silver. But Treasure Island has also had great appeal for adult readers and was admired by Mark Twain, Rudyard Kipling, and (reluctantly) Henry James. The story has the dreamlike quality of a fairy tale and has worked its way into the collective imagination of more than five generations of readers, gaining the power of myth.


Synopsis
Set sail to the heart of adventure with cabin boy, Jim Hawkins, aboard the legendary scoundrel, Captain Long John Silver. A secret treasure map becomes the key to heart-pounding thrills, danger and swashbuckling action as a boy faces the high seas and the grandest pirate of all in the adventure of a life time.


From The Critics
Children's Literature - Childrens Literature
A glorious adventure set in the day of the infamous pirate Long John Silver. It is when young Jim Hawkins encounters an "Old Sea Dog" by the name of Billy Bones that his adventures begin. The death of Billy Bones, early in the story, brings Jim into contact with Dr. Livesey and the Squire. Upon the discovery of a treasure map among the belongings of Billy Bones, they decide that the three of them--Jim, Dr. Livesey and the Squire--will sail for this island where it has been discovered that the notorious Capt
ain Flint buried his treasure. Long John Silver, in an attempt to get the treasure, comes on board their ship, the Hispaniola. Amazingly enough, it is the young Hawkins who is the spoiler of Silver's plan and one of the heroes of the story. Stevenson writes with such color and detail that the reader is transported onto the ship and into Jim Hawkins' adventure. In addition to the story, this edition of this timeless classic has a wonderful foreword written by Newberry author Avi. 2000,

School Library Journal
Gr 3-5-Stripped down from the original, this version reads smoothly enough for younger readers to get the plot and essential characters straight and the oversized format gives the story and pictures import. But 14 Wyeth illustrations, murkily reproduced and in a garishly yellowed tint, hardly convey the artist's full-color, masterful, and classic depictions of the action. To see the real pictures, suggest that children look at the version published by Atheneum (1981). They might even read the whole story.-Susan Hepler, Burgundy Farm Country Day School, Alexandria, VA Copyright 2003 Cahners Business Information.

BookList - Hazel Rochman
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 n
ineteenth-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.

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