"Treasure Island" by Robert Louis Stevenson (An Adaptation from "The Great Classics for Children" series)

If you like adventure, pirates, and a good mystery, I have the book for you.

Jim Hawkins is a boy about your age who helps his mother run a quiet inn by the sea. Then a rough old sailor shows up, and he is hiding something. When he dies, Jim finds a treasure map in the sailor’s chest, and suddenly a quiet life turns into the adventure of a lifetime.

Jim joins a voyage to find the treasure, sailing aboard the Hispaniola. The crew includes a friendly, one-legged cook named Long John Silver, who seems like the best friend a boy could ask for. But on an island full of secrets, nobody is quite what they seem. There are mutinies, sword fights, and a race to the buried gold, and Jim has to rely on his wits when things get dangerous.

Stevenson wrote this in 1883, and it shaped almost every pirate story that followed. The treasure map with an X, the parrot on the shoulder, and the pirate who talks like a pirate all come from here.

This is an abridgement, a 182-page condensation adapted by Nancy Fletcher-Blume for “The Great Classics for Children” series from Dalmatian Press. It’s a shorter and quicker read than the full novel, but it keeps the phrasing and flavor of Stevenson’s original. Jerry Dillingham’s black-and-white drawings bring the characters to life, and it’s a good first step into the classics. If you like it, the unabridged novel will be waiting for you when you’re ready for more.

This hardcover is in very good condition. You can find it at Dead Tree Dreams. Come aboard.