Book Review: Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson Illustrated by Robert Ingpen #treasureisland #bookreview #childrensbooks

On By MischenkoIn Children's Books, Classics, Fiction, Reads

Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson

Illustrated by: Robert Ingpen

Blurb:

Yo ho ho! Sail off on an exciting high-seas adventure, complete with memorable characters, menacing pirates, a deserted tropical island, and buried treasure! In his latest illustrated classic, award-winning artist Robert Ingpen has crafted a stunning new edition of Robert Louis Stevenson’s beloved novel, featuring more than 70 action-packed pictures.

My Review:

Quick summary: 

Jim Hawkins lives at the Admiral Benbow Inn along with his parents in an English seaside town. A man named Billy Bones comes to the inn to rent a room and begins conversing with young Jim. During their discussion, Billy warns Jim to be wary of a one-legged man. Billy is confronted by buccaneers who threaten his life, and then Jim discovers a treasure map. Others know about the map too and want to locate it, but Jim is able to hide with it for the time being. Young Jim, along with a crew, head out on a seafaring adventure to find Captain Flint’s treasure before anyone else does. 

Thoughts: 

Treasure island is an exciting adventure novel published in 1883 by Robert Louis Stevenson. The story is about buried treasure, pirates, and mutiny. It’s a coming-of-age story with iconic characters and an intriguing plot. 

This story is driven heavily by the plot, but the characters are all interesting. My personal favorite was Jim Hawkins, the primary narrator of the story. Jim is an honest character—far from perfect, and he doesn’t hide it. He accepts his mistakes and learns from them. It is young Jim’s perspective that makes this a coming-of-age story and leads to many plot twists. There is substantial character development with Jim in how he begins to better understand himself and the world around him. 

My son’s favorite character was Long John Silver and for good reason. He is the antagonist in the story. Intelligent, courageous and charming—he’s the villain you find yourself siding with throughout the story. Witnessing the skill of these characters and knowing their capabilities was one of my favorite aspects of this story. This story brought us to the controversial question: who is the hero in the end?

This story was amusing for all of my kids because they haven’t read very many pirate stories. It was a nice change and never boring. They were excited to read it and enjoyed discovering all the parts in the book that Disney took and adapted into Pirates of the Caribbean.

I remember reading this book as a child in our school library. It was likely the first pirate story I’d ever read either. As an adult reader, I can easily say that this book still held my interest today. It’s full of action and adventure, and it’s written well. While I didn’t love it, it was still an enjoyable read. I would recommend this book to anyone looking for an escape read or to one who enjoys immersing themselves in adventures—especially seafaring, pirate stories. This illustrated edition along with the audio by Neil Hunt brought this story to life.

Book details:

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Welbeck Editions; Second edition (September 5, 2019)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 192 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1786751003
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1786751003
  • Reading age ‏ : ‎ 8 – 12 years
  • Grade level ‏ : ‎ 3 – 7

Thanks for reading my review of Treasure Island. Have you read this book or any others by Robert Louis Stevenson? Do you have a favorite movie adaptation? Lets’s chat!

❤️ Mischenko

23 thoughts on “Book Review: Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson Illustrated by Robert Ingpen #treasureisland #bookreview #childrensbooks”

  1. Oh, this brings bad wonderful memories! When my nephew was struggling to embrace reading books, I read this book to him over the phone each week. It was the breakthrough he needed, going on to become obsessed with the Harry Potter series. Thanks for a lovely review, Mischenko💜

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

  2. It has earned its classic status, hasn’t it? I love those books that stand the test of time and have appeal for all ages. I loved Treasure Island too ❤️ Excellent review!

    Like

    Reply

    1. I haven’t read that one. Hmm, we also have the book Kidnapped and that’s about it. That one will likely be a Shabby Sunday book. It looks like most of his books get just under 4-star ratings or 3.5ish.

      I can’t remember if I’ve seen that Muppets or not, but I know my kids haven’t. Maybe we’ll try it this weekend. Today we watched the 1990 film with Charlton Heston, Christian Bale and Oliver Reed… we all enjoyed it.

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

        1. We’re going to watch it this week. The 1990 version is interesting. Christian Bale plays Jim Hawkins, so he’s a young child. That has to be the first movie I watched him in, and at the time I didn’t even know it. 😂

          Liked by 1 person

      2. That’s the movie I remember, Jenn. It was very well done. I think a reread of Treasure Island is in order. I wonder if my grandson would read it with me. I would love to have heard your discussion about who the hero was, and what makes a hero. That would be a great theme for a classroom.

        Like

        Reply

  6. This is my dad’s all time favorite, and I’m embarrassed to admit I’ve never read it. I used to read at least one classic per year, but let’s just say I’m several years behind. I love that your kids enjoyed this so much!

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

  9. Pingback: March Wrap-up 2022 – Five-Year Anniversary! #books #bookreviews #music – ReadRantRock&Roll

Leave a Reply

Please log in using one of these methods to post your comment:

Gravatar
WordPress.com Logo

You are commenting using your WordPress.com account. ( Log Out /  Change )

Twitter picture

You are commenting using your Twitter account. ( Log Out /  Change )

Facebook photo

You are commenting using your Facebook account. ( Log Out /  Change )

Cancel

Connecting to %s