Treasure Island or Kidnapped?

[marisolstice]

Which would you pick for a ten year old for lit? Goal is cultural literacy and challenge (she's a very strong reader, and whichever title I don't assign for school will go on her free-read pile anyway). I haven't read either of them since I was a kid (not sure I even read Kidnapped), so I probably just need to take some time to compare them...

[FO4UR]

Treasure Island is an easier read, perfect for a 10yo.  That's the one I'd assign.  

 

 

[EndOfOrdinary]

I think there is more general knowledge of Treasure Island. Kidnapped is wonderful (my son is finishing Treasure now and will start kidnapped next month) but many people cannot give you a generic plot outline like Teasure Island. So if you are going for cultural literacy, I'd go with Treasure.

[Lori D.]

Treasure Island and other Robert Lewis Stevenson (RLS) works are typically found in a grade 8 or 9 Lit. list (vocabulary and complex / old-fashioned sentence structure, and literary elements at work). So if you find that DD is struggling with the reading or has waning interest level, it would be perfectly fine to set it aside in favor of some other classics that might click better subject-wise and interest-wise. You can always come back to RLS in a few years. :)

 

More old classics that might click with a 10yo girl:

 

Black Beauty (Sewell)

Anne of Green Gables (Montgomery)

The Secret Garden; A Little Princess (Burnett)

Pollyanna (Porter)

Heidi (Spryri)

Little Women (Alcott)

The Reluctant Dragon (Graham)

Five Children and It; The Phoenix and the Carpet; The Book of Dragons (Nesbit)

The Hobbit (Tolkien)

The Light Princess; The Princess and the Goblins (MacDonald)

Andrew Lang fairy books

Tales from the Arabian Nights

Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (Carroll)

Tanglewood Tales; Wonderbook (Hawthorne)

Just So Stories; The Jungle Book (Kipling)

Sherlock Holmes short mysteries (Doyle)

Ivanhoe (Scott)

Robinson Crusoe (Defoe)

A Christmas Carol (Dickens)

Cricket on the Hearth (Dickens)

 

Free read good books for a 10yo girl:

 

Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH (O'Brien)

Island of the Blue Dolphins  (O'Dell) 

Nim's Island (Orr)

My Side of the Mountain (George) 

The Hobbit (Tolkien) 

Phantom Tollbooth (Juster) 

A Wrinkle in Time (L'Engle)

The Twenty-One Balloons (DuBois)

The Incredible Journey (Burnford)

The Black Stallion (Farley)

Kildee House (Montgomery)

Daughter of the Mountains (Rankin)

One Hundred and One Dalmatians (Smith)

Half Magic -- and sequels (Eager)

Hitty, Her First 100 Years (Field)

The Ordinary Princess (Kaye)

The Wolves of Willoughby Chase (Aiken)

Two Are Better Than One (Brink)

Caddie Woodlawn (Brink)

Calico Bush (Field)

Thee Hannah! (de Angeli)

I am Regina (Keehn)

Strawberry Girl (Lenski)

Understood Betsy (Fisher)

In the Year of the Boar and Jackie Robinson (Lord)

Because of Winn Dixie (DiCamillo)

Family Under the Bridge (Carlson)

The Hundred Dresses (Estes)

From the Mixed Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Franweiler (Konigsburg)

Edited March 17, 2016 by Lori D.

[marisolstice]

Thank you, everyone!

 

 

Treasure Island and other Robert Lewis Stevenson (RLS) works are typically found in a grade 8 or 9 Lit. list (vocabulary and complex / old-fashioned sentence structure, and literary elements at work).

 

 

Do you think he is more difficult than Defoe? I'm actually looking for difficult for her. She has blown through most of the others on your above list (and is barely nine), so I want her "school" readings to be tougher, taken more slowly, and discussed. BTW, thank you so much for your lit lists...I do way more reading than posting on these boards; your lists have been SO helpful to me lately as I'm thinking through lit goals for DD1 (and the other kids).

[marisolstice]

I think there is more general knowledge of Treasure Island. Kidnapped is wonderful (my son is finishing Treasure now and will start kidnapped next month) but many people cannot give you a generic plot outline like Teasure Island. So if you are going for cultural literacy, I'd go with Treasure.

I'd love to hear his thoughts on both when he's finished! ;)

[Esse Quam Videri]

I personally think Treasure Island is *easier* reading... Oldest DD enjoyed Kidnapped with Ambleside year 4 at 9 years old but she's a freak... My other two (including another very strong reader) definitely won't be able to enjoy it until middle school at least. Just the language and syntax can be very complicated. Oddly enough, I still remember a 52 word dictation passage- that was all one sentence 😬

I think both are invaluable though, and I would definitely have her read them both at some point. Robinson Crusoe set the precedent for that entire genre, including Treasure Island. Defoe was the first, and many, many other novels draw from (and even mention) RC. I think that is one reason to consider reading it first.

 

I also love the idea of Dickens' A Christmas Carol. Equally difficult but perhaps more enjoyable?

 

Have you looked at Ambleside's lists? It's been a great fit for my oldest mentioned above.

Edited March 18, 2016 by Esse Quam Videri

[Meriwether]

Treasure Island - preferably this one if you can swing it: http://www.amazon.com/Treasure-Island-Sterling-Illustrated-Classics/dp/1402775458/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1458422559&sr=8-1&keywords=treasure+island+ingpen

 

It will make it that much more interesting.

 

 

[BatmansWife]

Treasure Island - preferably this one if you can swing it: http://www.amazon.com/Treasure-Island-Sterling-Illustrated-Classics/dp/1402775458/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1458422559&sr=8-1&keywords=treasure+island+ingpen

 

It will make it that much more interesting.

Is the sample really of this "illustrated" version?  There are no pictures in the sample, and the reading looks a bit much (to me at least).  

[Meriwether]

Is the sample really of this "illustrated" version? There are no pictures in the sample, and the reading looks a bit much (to me at least).

I didn't look at the sample, but I own the book. It is very much illustrated. There is an illustration for the most part every 3 or 4 pages. The longest I counted just now was seven. Some of these are small, but there are a number of half page and full page pictures. Robert Ingpen, the illustrator, has done a number of beautiful books. They are as close as you will get to a picture book of a full length novel. The print is slightly bigger than a mass market paperback would be and the pages are oversized, so the eye doesn't get as tired. It is an excellent choice for a child when the book alone will stretch the child.

[FromA2Z]

Is the sample really of this "illustrated" version? There are no pictures in the sample, and the reading looks a bit much (to me at least).

I didn't see a sample on my AMazon mobile app but Amazon often just puts up a generic sample of classic works. The Ingpen illustrated books are simply beautiful. Lots of illustrations, chapter dividers, heavy paper, and relaxing word spacing. I have quite a set of these books going.

[TX Native]

I am currently reading Treasure Island to my 9yo. We are loving it.

[marisolstice]

Treasure Island - preferably this one if you can swing it: http://www.amazon.com/Treasure-Island-Sterling-Illustrated-Classics/dp/1402775458/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1458422559&sr=8-1&keywords=treasure+island+ingpen

 

It will make it that much more interesting.

It looks like it's abridged--is it?

[Penelope]

Treasure Island. I really like Kidnapped, though.

 

I know Robinson Crusoe is interesting for historical reasons, but frankly I hated that book as a kid, even though I wasn't made to read it but chose it on my own. Then I decided to have one of my children read it, and he really hated it. I won't be assigning it again, but offering it as optional.

[Meriwether]

It looks like it's abridged--is it?

I would have said no, but to be sure I spot checked it. The words were 100% the same in chapters 1, 2, and 27. Remember that reviews for a book on Amazon are usually a compilation of all editions of the book, so they won't necessarily apply to any particular edition.

[marisolstice]

Thanks for checking!

[marisolstice]

Treasure Island. I really like Kidnapped, though.

 

I know Robinson Crusoe is interesting for historical reasons, but frankly I hated that book as a kid, even though I wasn't made to read it but chose it on my own. Then I decided to have one of my children read it, and he really hated it. I won't be assigning it again, but offering it as optional.

[marisolstice]

Treasure Island. I really like Kidnapped, though.

 

I know Robinson Crusoe is interesting for historical reasons, but frankly I hated that book as a kid, even though I wasn't made to read it but chose it on my own. Then I decided to have one of my children read it, and he really hated it. I won't be assigning it again, but offering it as optional.

Do you know why you hated it?

[ScoutTN]

There is a fabulous unabridged audiobook of Treasure Island, if you want to go that route, Alfred Molina is the narrator.

[Penelope]

Do you know why you hated it?

I just remember being bored with it and had no interest in the story or characters. And I picked up and had read lots of older classical lit and children's lit., so it wasn't as though it was hard to read.

 

I wonder if I would appreciate it more now for reasons beyond the story. It is a product of its time and IIRC was hugely popular in the American colonies.